The Dragon Hobbit
by stormwitch12
Summary: I can't really think of a good summary for this one. Will have MPreg.
1. Chapter 1

**AN:** I do not own The Hobbit, I'm just playing around with it a little.

Prologue

Belladonna smiled as she watched her son, her little Bilbo, as he pretended to be fighting an orc with his wooden sword, being wary of all of the plants in the garden so Bungo wouldn't be cross with him. She watched him for a couple more minutes before the timer sitting on the counter beside her elbow dinged and she moved over to the oven, removing their dinner, setting it on the stove. Turning back to the window, she felt a shiver of fear move down her spine when she realized that Bilbo was no longer in the backyard. "Bilbo," she breathes before rushing out the backdoor, standing in the backyard, she looked every which direction until she heard a child's laughter from farther into the treeline behind the house and sighed before heading in that direction.

"Aren't you a little cutie," she heard Bilbo say and her brows furrowed before quickening her pace, not wanting her son to get bit by another wild animal because he tried to pick the poor creature up. "My name's Bilbo and yours?" She stopped at that, her heart constricting as she thought of all the creature's that her son could be conversing with. "You don't have one, that's unfortunate, hmm, let me think." Belladonna quickly began moving forward again, intent on reaching her son before something harmful could happen. "How about Inglor, it means golden heart in Sindarin?" Bilbo suddenly let out a loud giggle and Belladonna got a bemused expression on her face as she tried to think of a way to talk her husband into letting their son keep the creature he'd found. "Are you hungry, little golden one, I might have a few biscuits left from afternoon tea?" Belladonna was close now and, not wanting to startle her son and whatever creature he'd found, peeked around a tree. Her eyes widened as she saw the golden dragon hatchling, almost the same size as her fifteen-year old fauntling, happily eating biscuits from Bilbo's palm.

Belladonna immediately began looking around for any signs of an older dragon, brows furrowing when there wasn't any. _'A golden dragon, a protector of Middle Earth and said to have all been killed by Sauron because they refused to bow to him, even fought him,'_ she thinks as her mind whirled in shock. _'For there to be such a young hatchling, by itself, means that it was lain before Sauron killed them all.'_ A bright light suddenly filled the clearing where Bilbo and the hatchling had been and when it faded, only Bilbo remained and he was unconscious on the ground. "Bilbo," she cried out running into the clearing and kneeling at his side, frantically searching him for injuries until her eyes fell on a golden rune on the back of his shoulder. Gathering him up into her arms, she quickly made her way back to the smial, gave her worried husband a small smile before taking Bilbo through to his room and cleaning him up. Once he was cleaned up a bit, she sat on the bed beside him and took a closer look at the rune, or runes as it was. The same rune was on each shoulder blade on either side of a golden dragon between his shoulders and what looked like two Dwarvish runes on the back of his neck. Instantly recognizing that the two on his neck were her son's mate mark, the one that had been missing when he'd been born she began to calm some.

"What's going on, Bella?" Bungo asks from the door and she moved a little so he could see around her, causing her to roll her eyes when she heard a quick intake of breath before a thud.

Turning to see that her husband had fainted, Belladonna chuckled before shaking her head and stood to move her husband into the chair beside Bilbo's bed. She grabbed a clean piece of parchment as well as charcoal from Bilbo's desk and quickly sketched out the rune that was on either side of the golden dragon between his shoulder blades. Belladonna gave the two unconscious males a small smile as she retreated from the room to go through her books in the library for any clue as to what the rune meant.

After a week of looking through her library and being unable to find anything, Belladonna was almost at her wit's end while Bungo still fainted every time he saw the dragon mark on their son's back. Bilbo, once he woke after a two-day long nap, didn't seem too bothered by any of it and went back to being his normal fauntling self, fighting invisible orcs and dark lords with his wooden sword. There was only two noticeable changes on her son that couldn't be covered up, Bilbo's eyes were now gold with cat-like pupils and his hair, that had been a sandy-blond was now golden. Most Hobbits, other than the fauntlings, the Tooks and her husband, now avoided her son because of the eyes and it made the boy feel even more different. She sent the sketch, along with a letter, to Lord Elrond of Rivendell, asking if he knew what the rune meant before settling into watching her son like a hawk to make sure he was fine. It was a few weeks later that she got a reply letter, informing her that the rune was from a very old language and one that meant protector before asking where she'd seen it. Not wanting anyone to know about the dragon hatchling or that her son now had golden symbols on his skin, she wrote him back saying that she'd seen it carved into a tree not far from Bree, just outside the Shire.

Everything settled back into normality for a couple of years and Bilbo never lost his Tookish behavoir, even going so far as to train with the Rangers and soldiers of Bree so he knew how to fight. This caused no small amount of fright for his Father and made Belladonna extremely happy. He even listened to everything Bungo wanted to teach him, enjoying being able to spend time doing the simple things with him before joining his Mother in a tiny adventure into the woods.

Then, at the age of twenty-one, tragedy struck during the Fell Winter, leaving Bilbo without both his parents and alone in Bag End, as he refused to allow his Father's family to remove him from his home. The Thain, Old Took, allowed Bilbo to remain where he was and wouldn't hear of anyone trying to talk him or his grandson into moving from Bag End. On his thirty-third birthday, Bilbo's coming of age was celebrated, as well as the completion of his training with the Rangers and that night, he dreamt of dark black hair and piercing, blue eyes that seemed to see right through him.


	2. Chapter 2

**AN:** I do not own the Hobbit, I'm just borrowing the characters. No copyright infringement meant.

Chapter One

It was a rather nice, early spring day that had Bilbo sat on the bench in front of his hobbit-hole, smoking pipe-weed and playing with a golden curl that had escaped the knot at the back of his neck. Dropping the curl, he leant his head back as he blew a large smoke ring and heard the soft clinking of the small hoops at the top of his left ear. As he sat enjoying the sunshine on him, Bilbo began to feel restless and like there was someone watching him, which caused the normally-dormant side of him to get edgy. Opening his eyes, Bilbo noticed the grey-clad figure standing at his fence and raised an eyebrow before straightening up. "Good morning," he murmurs giving a slight bow of his head to the man before standing from his bench.

A smirk appeared on the older man's face and Bilbo felt that he should recognize this person. The Hobbit took a discrete sniff at the air when a breeze blew past him from the direction of the man and it clicked. "What do you mean?" the Wizard asks and Bilbo felt his jaw clench in annoyance. "Do you wish me a good morning, or mean that it is a good morning whether I want it or not; or that you feel good this morning; or that it is a morning to be good on?"

It took everything Bilbo had not to growl at the Wizard before he finally responded a couple of seconds later. "All of them at once," he breathes putting his pipe back to his lips and taking a deep breath, releasing a plume of smoke once he was done. "Now, what can I do for you, Gandalf the Grey?"

The Wizard seemed surprised that Bilbo remembered him if the raised eyebrows and dropped jaw was anything to go by, causing a small smirk to pull at Bilbo's lips. "I am looking for someone to share in an adventure," the Wizard began and Bilbo felt a bit of curiosity pull at those words but made sure to keep it from his face, "and it's been very difficult to find someone."

"Well, that's to be expected, not many around here would even think of something like that," Bilbo murmurs as he moved over to the fence and checked his mail. "Makes one late for dinner." Most of the rest of his conversation was a blur to Bilbo as he was answering on auto-pilot while he tried to figure out why the Istari would be here. Moving back towards his door, he turned to look over his shoulder at the Wizard, "I suppose it does me no good to argue with you, Wizard, so I'll just say good morning and good-bye." Heading inside, he listened to the Wizard grumble under his breath about dwarves and stubborn hobbits before there was a scratching noise like the old man was doing something to his door.

Once sure that Gandalf was gone, Bilbo opened the door and glared down at the vaguely-familiar Dwarven rune carved into his newly-painted door. "Burglar for hire, indeed," he grumbles before shaking his head, he slammed the door shut before leaning against the table by the door. He stared up at the ceiling for a moment before he walked through the smial and into his pantry, pulling food from shelves to make sure he had enough to feed however many uninvited dwarves the Wizard had just invited into his home. While he readied everything so all he had to do was put stuff into the oven, take things out and stir the stuff on the stove, Bilbo gathered up everything he'd need for an adventure. Taking a seat at the kitchen table, he slowly began collecting the papers and things for Bag End so Lobelia and Otho couldn't claim it once the she-demon realized he was gone, having Hamfast go ask his Uncle to come see him.

When the Thain finally arrived twenty minutes later, Bilbo was in the middle of switching out things in the oven and motioned for him to take a seat. "Hamfast said that you needed to see me, Nephew?" the older hobbit began once Bilbo had joined him at the table and the golden-haired hobbit slid the stack of papers across the table to him.

"I've been asked to join in on an adventure by Gandalf," Bilbo murmurs watching as his Mother's eldest brother grit his teeth but remained silent. "I think it would be good for me, Mother wouldn't want me to stay around here and mope so I've decided that no matter what or where it takes me, I'm going."

Isengrim the Third stared at his Nephew for a couple of minutes before taking the pile of papers off the table and flipping through them to make sure everything was in order. "What am I to do if you die or decide not to come back?" he asks trying to keep his voice neutral and by the slight twitch of Bilbo's left ear, he knew he hadn't been successful.

"As it states in my Will, in case of my death everything goes to you, except Bag End, it's to go to Drogo and Primula because I'll be damned if Lobelia gets it. Mother's and Father's portraits, Mother's glory box and her pottery can be stored at Tookborough so that Drogo and Primula can move in," Bilbo says and an undertone of steel fills his voice at the mention of Othos' wife. "If I decide not to come back, I will return for what I want and then the rest will go to you to do with as you please."

The older Hobbit nodded at his words as he looked over the Will while Bilbo spoke and put the papers down to look at his nephew. "Are you sure you would like to do this, Bilbo?" he murmurs and the younger hobbit gave a quick decisive nod, causing the elder to sigh before nodding. "Then I wish you luck and may your adventure be grand." Standing from his seat, papers in hand, Isengrim made his way around the table and placed his hand atop Bilbo's golden curls. "Your Mother would be so proud of you and don't forget to say goodbye to your Grandparents before you leave." With that Isengrim was gone and Bilbo was once more alone in Bag End, the hobbit sighed before standing as several timers went off at once.

Whistling to himself, he headed back into his pantry and looked through his selection of ales, spirits and wines before deciding that most of the dwarves probably wouldn't drink anything other than ale. Rolling three barrels of the best he had into the dining room, he set them up to be used and headed back into the kitchen. The smial filled with the smells of cooked meats, stews and pastries, the smells wafting out the windows and bringing some of the young faunts around to give him puppy-eyes from his fence.

He'd just managed to finish cooking up everything, already had it on the kitchen tables and was in his bedroom packing his travel bag when he heard the knocking of his first uninvited guest. Exiting his room, closing his door behind him, Bilbo made his way towards the door and pulled it open just as the dwarf outside raised his hand to knock again. "Dwalin at your service," the dwarf says and Bilbo gave a small smile before stepping out of the way.

"Bilbo Baggins at yours," he says as the dwarf stepped into his home, looking around. "If you wouldn't mind removing your boots and weapons, there's a table for you to put them just over there." Bilbo nodded his head towards the large table he'd put by the door, " The washroom is through that door and dinner is on the table through there." The dwarf removed his weapons and boots as requested, hanging up his cloak on the pegs above the table before turning back to Bilbo. The golden-haired hobbit felt like he was being studied and felt like growling at the dwarf but held back, trying to ignore the feeling.

===============POV=Change=================

Dwalin observed the golden-eyed being that the Wizard had picked to join up with the company to reclaim their home and wondered exactly what the daft, old man was thinking. When he noticed that the hobbit, Baggins, he'd said his name was, had an eyebrow raised and his arms crossed over his chest as he stared back at him, he looked away and headed for the washroom.

Once back out in the hall, he followed his ears towards where he heard the hobbit and froze at the sight of the nearly overflowing table that the small creature was busy setting up. "You may go ahead and take a seat, Master Dwalin," the halfling calls as he disappeared through a connecting door into what looked like a kitchen.

The dwarf was a little bewildered and confused, all the other hobbits he'd met on his way here had been distrustful and a little hostile, so this one was confusing him. Taking a seat at the table, he looked over the selection of foods on the table before there was suddenly a large mug of ale in front of him, as well as an empty plate with silverware.

===============POV=Change=================

Balin observed the small beings around him as he walked through Hobbiton on his way to their burglar's home. The small beings didn't seem all that welcoming towards other races, well dwarves it seemed as they all made sure to give a wide berth as he moved. Wondering what exactly the Wizard was thinking when he'd decided to ask a hobbit, of all things, to join them on an adventure. The people around him didn't seem to care much for anything except food, friends, their gardens and their homes, which made him wary of whether or not the Wizard was wasting their time. Nearing the end of a dead end, he noticed the mark scratched into a round, green door and approached, giving a single, sharp knock.

===============POV=Change=================

Bilbo had just walked back to the kitchen after making sure that Dwalin was eating instead of sitting there staring off into space in shock when another knock sounded from the door and went to open it. The white-haired dwarf on the other side looked a little like Dwalin so Bilbo assumed they were related and after they introduced themselves to each other, he gave him the same information as he had Dwalin before retreating back into the kitchen. After listening to the two of them, he ended up finding out that they were brothers and that he should be expecting thirteen dwarrows by the end of the night.

Bilbo felt his eye twitch before the need to find, and strangle, a certain Wizard rose to the top of his 'to-do list.' Unfortunately, that's when two, almost simultaneous, knocks sounded on the door and the Hobbit forced his anger at the Wizard down before going to answer the door. "Fili," the blond dwarf says with a smile. "And Kili," the dark-haired one says. "At your service," they say at the same time, mischievous glints in their eyes as they bowed.

Bilbo felt a small smile lift the corners of his mouth before he introduced himself in turn, rattling off that they needed to remove their boots, cloaks and weapons, where to put them and where to wash up. Ignoring it when the two called him 'Mister Boggins,' Bilbo sent them into the dining room and leant against the wall next to the door into the kitchen, taking several deep breaths to keep from snapping at the dwarves. Dwalin and Balin had said something about how Gandalf was supposed to have informed him of their arrival weeks ago so he wouldn't get upset with the dwarves, at least, not if he could help it, he'd save his anger for the Wizard.

By the time true night had fallen, most everyone, including the Wizard, who Bilbo had had a long talk with, had already arrived and they seemed to be waiting for the last dwarf to arrive before saying anything. Bilbo was sitting up on the counter next to the warmer where he'd stashed a plate of food and flinched as the dwarves began tossing china after the little redhead, Ori, had asked what to do with his plate. After he made an offhand comment about being careful with the china and not blunting his knives, they began singing a song.

" _Blunt the knives, bend the forks_

 _Smash the bottles and burn the corks_

 _Chip the glasses and crack the plates_

 _That's what Bilbo Baggins hates!_

 _Cut the cloth and tread on the fat_

 _Leave the bones on the bedroom mat_

 _Pour the milk on the pantry floor_

 _Splash the wine on every door_

 _Dump the crocks in a boiling bowl_

 _Pound them up with a thumping pole_

 _And when you've finished, if they are whole_

 _Send them down the hall to roll_

 _That's what Bilbo Baggins hates!"_

The golden-haired hobbit would never admit to being amused and pulled off being quite cross with them by the end of it. Laughing along with the dwarves when he cracked the door from the dining room into the kitchen to see that all of his crockery was still whole and piled neatly on the small table in his kitchen. They were all still laughing when there were three loud knocks from the door and they all left the kitchen, heading for the hall. "He's here," Gandalf breathes and Bilbo barely kept himself from rolling his eyes at the dramatics of it all as the Wizard went to open the door.

"Gandalf, I thought you said this place would be easy to find," the new arrival says and Bilbo stays in his spot on the counter. The hobbit wasn't at all interested in getting down because he'd drunk five more bottles of wine than he should have to keep from getting angry and didn't want to chance falling flat on his face. "I lost my way, twice. Wouldn't have found it at all if hadn't been for that mark on the door."

"There wouldn't be a mark on that door if some meddling Wizard hadn't put the damn thing there," Bilbo says as everyone returned to the dining room and he slid off the counter once he was sure he wouldn't fall or get dizzy. "By the way, Gandalf, when did I become a burglar?"

The Wizard gave Bilbo a look and the smaller man just shrugged before turning his attention to the newest guest, stilling when those piercing, blue eyes looked at him. "Thorin, this is Bilbo Baggins," the Wizard introduces and Bilbo ducks his head to the dwarf. "Bilbo, this is the leader of our company, Thorin Oakenshield."

The dwarf's eyes were suddenly back on Bilbo as he seemed to look him over, studyingly and Bilbo reigned in the urge to roll his eyes. "So, this is the Hobbit," he says as he continues looking over the smaller being. "Tell me, Mister Baggins, have you done much fighting?"

"Pardon me?" Bilbo mutters absentmindedly raising an eyebrow at the dwarf. _'Hmm, this Dwarf is being very rude,'_ he thought as he debated on telling the truth or pretending not to know anything.

Thorin just stared back for a moment before sighing and circled around the hobbit, continuing to look him over. "Axe or sword? What's your weapon of choice?" he asks coming to a stop back in front of the hobbit.

 _'Screw it, I'm going to pretend not to know anything,'_ the hobbit thinks before shrugging. "I have some skill at conkers, though I don't see how that's relevant," he says evenly trying to keep the effects of too much wine under control.

"Thought as much," Thorin says as a smirk pulled at his lips and he looked around at the other dwarves in the room. "He looks more like a grocer than a burglar."

Bilbo just ignored the laughter that followed that comment, especially seeing as he really didn't care what the dwarves thought of him and it's not like any of them had seen anything that would lead them to think otherwise. As they all moved to take seats around the table, Bilbo opened the warmer and took out the plate that'd been saved for Thorin before holding it out to the insufferable dwarf, who took it without a word. Annoyed, and hoping not to take it out on his guests, he decided to leave while the dwarves caught up, Bilbo slipped out of the dining room and headed deeper into the house towards his room so he could finish packing.

It was a good thirty minutes later and he was almost done packing when there was a light knock on his bedroom door. Moving over to his door, he opened it a smidge and saw Ori standing there looking slightly nervous before opening it a little further. "Do they need me in there now?" he asks and the shy dwarf nods as he curiously looks passed Bilbo into the hobbit's room. Ori's eyes widen as he sees the two swords, as well as the bow and arrow sitting by the wall just inside the door. Bilbo steps out of his bedroom, pulling the door closed behind him and glanced at the young dwarf, pressing a finger to his lips. "Please don't tell anyone." He looked confused at that but then shrugged, heading off down the hall towards the dining room, Bilbo following close behind. All of the dwarves seemed to be concentrated on a map and Bilbo peeked through the gap between Thorin and Gandalf, "The Lonely Mountain?"

The hobbit's words interrupted the talk going on around the table about the raven's return to the mountain fore-telling the end of a beast's reign. "If you don't mind me asking, what beast are you speaking of?" Bilbo asks tentatively, not sure if he'd get an answer.

The dwarf with the weird hat was the one that spoke up, pulling his pipe from between his lips. "Well, that would be a reference to Smaug the Terrible, chiefest and greatest calamity of our age," he says and Bilbo didn't know how he was able to keep the growl at the mention of another dragon, an evil one, from rumbling out his chest, as well as managing to look a little bit frightened. "Airborne fire-breather, teeth like razors, claws like meat hooks and extremely fond of precious metals."

"Yes, I know what a Dragon is," Bilbo says feeling kind of annoyed now that one of them was openly trying to make him scared. _'I am one,'_ he adds in his thoughts as he wondered when would be a good time to enlighten them on that point.

Ori was suddenly out of his seat, proclaiming, "Well, I ain't afraid, I'm up for it, I'll give him a taste of Dwarvish iron right up his jacksey."

The hobbit fought to keep from showing amusement like the rest of them and then Dori grabbed Ori's elbow and pulled him back into his seat, quietly telling him, "Sit down."

When Balin started talking about how they'd have a fight even with an army behind them but they were only thirteen and none the best or brightest. Bilbo had to stifle a laugh with his fist, making it into a cough at the last moment as several of the dwarves objected, starting an argument. This went on for quite a while until Fili broke through it with, "We may be few in number, but we're all fighters, to the last dwarf."

Kili then pipes in with a loud, "And you forget, we have a Wizard in our midst. Gandalf will have killed hundreds of dragons in his time."

Bilbo snickered quietly when all the other dwarves turned their attention on the Wizard and had to press a hand to his mouth to stifle laughter again. The Wizard began trying to funnel the conversation away from his dragon slaying or how many he'd killed. The Hobbit saw the small smirk Thorin sent the Wizard as he began coughing and blowing smoke out his nose, trying to avoid answering the question. Quickly covering his laughter with a fit of coughing, Bilbo put a hand in front of his mouth to hide the fact he was laughing at the Wizard's discomfort. When everyone suddenly started arguing over how many dragons Gandalf had killed and other unimportant things, Thorin leapt to his feet, bellowing, _"_ _Atkât!"_ * Bilbo had been standing behind him when he'd leapt to his feet and the Hobbit slid quickly backwards, his years of training with the soldiers from Bree coming into effect as he readied himself for a fight if one broke out.

===============POV=Change=================

Nori was observing everything when he caught the hobbit's quick little movements when Thorin had stood. The thief's eyes narrowed on the smaller being, watching as the halfling's movements changed from the laid back, homely hobbit he'd been acting like and then, all of a sudden, he was ready to defend himself. It was a subtle change, one that no one would've noticed at all if they hadn't been paying attention but it made him see that there was definitely more to the hobbit than the small creature had led them to believe. As Nori turned back to Thorin, he was left wondering why the small being would make himself appear to be weak and unable to defend himself.

As if hit by a bolt of lightning, Nori sat up straight, eyes locked on the halfling as he realized the reason. Every single dwarf in this room had probably come into this house thinking the same thing. Hobbits were good for nothing but hiding and being invisible, weak in everything else so he was letting them all think he was useless. 'Interesting,' he thought before turning his attention back to what was going on at the table since he hadn't been paying attention while figuring out the hobbit.

===============POV=Change=================

While a member of the company had realized what he'd been hiding, Bilbo had lost himself to his own thoughts again, completely tuning out the dwarves and their conversation. He missed the talk of how he didn't look to be a burglar or how gentlefolk wouldn't be able to survive in the wilds and Gandalf getting angry and using his voice and a little bit of magic to stop the arguing. He came back from his thoughts just in time to hear Gandalf say, "Hobbits are remarkably light on their feet, they can pass unseen by most if they choose. While Smaug is used to the smell of dwarf, the scent of hobbit is all but unknown to him, which gives us a distinct advantage." Bilbo scoffed, making sure to cover it up with something resembling a cough as he lifted his hand up to his mouth and the Wizard looked at Thorin before continuing, "You asked me to find the fourteenth member of this company and I have chosen Bilbo. There's a lot more to him than appearances suggest." The hobbit had to hide the smirk that lifted the corner of his mouth, wondering if the Wizard knew more than he was letting on, before looking down at the floor, hoping that no one was watching. "And he's got a lot more to offer than any of you know, including himself. You must trust me on this."

Raising his eyes to look at the room through his lashes, he noticed when Thorin glanced at him before growling out, "Very well, we'll do it your way." The dwarf glanced at Balin, jerking his head towards Bilbo who felt his shoulders tense. "Give him the contract."

Ignoring the other dwarves, who all seemed ecstatic that Thorin had relented, Bilbo was about to ask when a sheath of parchment was suddenly pressed into his hands by Balin as he spoke. "It's just the usual, out-of-pocket expenses, time required, remuneration, funeral arrangements, etc."

Turning away to skim through the parchment, Bilbo was not expecting to hear the whispered conversation between Thorin and Gandalf, silently cursing his enhanced senses to the fiery depths of Mordor. "I cannot guarantee his safety," the dwarf whispers and Bilbo glanced out the corner of his eye at the two larger people.

"Understood," Gandalf murmurs with an unreadable look on his face.

Thorin raised an eyebrow at the Wizard, "Nor will I be responsible for his fate."

Bilbo fought to keep from laughing out loud and made it seem like he was starting to hyperventilate instead. "Agreed," Gandalf says and the hobbit snickered under his breath, looking back at the contract in his hands.

Reading through some of the contract aloud, Bilbo could feel the eyes of all the others in the room on him and had to keep himself from laughing at certain things. " _'The present company shall not be liable for injuries inflicted by or sustained as a consequence thereof including but not limited to lacerations...evisceration...incineration?'_ " The hobbit made a squeaking noise to keep from laughing and fanned his face with a hand, making it seem like he might be close to fainting.

Bofur piped up and said, "Think furnace with wings."

Bilbo began fanning his face faster and hissed, "Can't laugh, can't laugh," in Greentongue to keep the dwarves from knowing what he was saying.

"Flash of light, searing pain, then Poof," Bofur continues and Bilbo turned back towards the dining room, knowing that his face was pale from trying to keep back his amusement, "you're nothing more than a pile of ash."

Breathing deeply to try and compose himself so that he didn't start laughing when he opened his mouth to finally start speaking. Bilbo could see that Gandalf knew he was trying not to laugh because the Wizard had a small amused sparkle in his eyes. "Did you really have to list all of the ways I could possibly die or be injured?" he asks and they all stared at him incredulously for a few moments before Balin nodded. Bilbo turned, heading towards the study for his writing implements and so he could continue calming down, away from the dwarves because their expressions made him want to laugh. Signing his name at the bottom, he pretended to be startled when he turned to see all of the dwarves standing outside the doorway before holding the contract out to Balin. "Here you go." Once Balin had taken the contract from him, Bilbo moved through the crowd of dwarves towards his bedroom. "There are enough guest rooms for all of you, make yourselves comfortable and have a goodnight," he breathes as he reaches up to undo the bun at the back of his neck, letting it unravel to its full length down to the backs of his calves as he pushed open his door, disappearing from view.

As he lay in bed, trying to force himself to sleep, he heard the dwarves begin singing and slid from bed, moving silently over to his door so he could crack it open. Sitting against the wall by the door, he listened as they sung.

 _"Far over the Misty Mountains cold_

 _To dungeons deep and caverns old_

 _We must away ere break of day,_

 _To find our long-forgotten gold."_

As he listened, a small smile stretched Bilbo's lips as he leaned even more comfortably against the wall.

 _"The pines were roaring on the height_

 _The winds were moaning in the night_

 _The fire was red, it flaming spread_

 _The trees like torches blazed with light"_

Now relaxed enough to sleep, Bilbo quietly stood and closed his door, moving silently back to his bed, lost in sleep a couple minutes later.

===============POV=Change=================

Thorin stared up at the ceiling of the bedroom he'd managed to get to himself and growled quietly as his thoughts returned to the hobbit in the room across from the one he was in. With his hair down, the Hobbit looked a lot like the image of his One that had appeared in his dreams since his coming of age, at least from behind. He never got to see his One's face very clearly, other than the laughing gold eyes, something he'd realized the Hobbit also shared. Running a finger over the mate mark on the inside of his wrist which was usually hidden by his bracers or clothes. The name seemed to be written in Greentongue, a language he'd never seen outside of the Shire and one the halflings didn't teach to outsiders. Shaking his head, he pushed thoughts of the hobbit far from his mind before closing his eyes to sleep.

 **Translations:**

*Silence


	3. Chapter 3

**AN: I do not own the Hobbit.**

 **PlaidOtaku: Thank you for the review and I'm glad you like it.**

 **Thank you to everyone who has read, followed or favorited.**

Chapter Two

Bilbo awoke to a terrible racket that was a mix of shrieking woman and quick, furious taps on the door of his smial. Lifting his head, the hobbit glanced out the small, round window to see that the sky was barely lightening to pink and he groaned. "Oh, sweet, merciful Yavanna, give me the patience not to strangle Lobelia," he grumbles before stumbling out of bed and out his bedroom door, ignoring the half-asleep dwarves that also stumbled out the guest bedrooms.

"Bilbo Baggins, wake up and get out here now," Lobelia screeches from outside the hobbit-hole and the golden-haired hobbit could feel all the eyes of the dwarves on him now.

Stomping to the front door, naked from the waist up and hair still flowing down his back, Bilbo slung open the door, snarling at the woman standing on his steps. "What the fuck do you want this early in the gods-damned morning, Lobelia?" he growls staring angrily at her as she glanced over his shoulder, a scandalized look on her face when she saw the dwarves.

"You're going to march over to your Uncle's and change your Will, you know this place should be passed to Otho and I," she hisses as her eyes finally came back to him and Bilbo bit into his cheek as he clenched his fists at his sides.

"Sorry, Lobelia, no can do, you see I have to be leaving soon," he snarls running a hand through his hair, easily smoothing out any tangles before pulling it all over his left shoulder so his chest was somewhat concealed from her gaze, forgetting the dwarves behind him and accidentally revealing the mark on the back of his neck, as well as the ones on his back. "I'm sure the Thain would be more than happy to discuss a price for some things with you but you will not be able to get Bag End from him. I'd rather burn it down first, although I think it would do lovely as Drogo and Primula's baby shower gift when they decide to have children."

"Damn you, Bilbo Baggins," she hisses before whirling around and stomping off down the path back to the road.

Stepping back, Bilbo slammed the door closed, forgetting that the dwarves were even there as he stalked back to his room to dress. "Damn you to the darkest pits of Mordor, you evil she-demon," he hisses in his native language when he notices all of the dwarves, except for Thorin and Bombur, staring at him. "Uh, I'm going to get dressed and I'll be out to fix breakfast in a couple of minutes." Beating a hasty retreat, Bilbo disappeared into his bedroom and left a hallway full of stunned dwarves.

===============POV=Change=================

Fili and Kili glanced at each other, more than a little bewildered by what just happened and what they'd seen before looking at the other dwarves. "Was that our imagination," Kili starts as he and his brother look towards Balin.

"Or was there a mate mark of Uncle's name," Fili continues.

"On the back of the halfling's neck?" they finish together and all the other dwarves nod shakily.

Dwalin glanced at his brother who seemed to be in shock even as he nodded along with the rest of them. "Should we tell Thorin?" the Dwarven guardsmen asks as soon as his brother looked like he wasn't in shock anymore.

"Let's let them figure it out," the white-haired dwarf murmurs before heading back into the room he'd shared with Dwalin to dress for the day.

===============POV=Change=================

When Bilbo re-emerged from his room a few minutes later, the hallway was clear and he hurried into the kitchen to make a quick breakfast that would get rid of the rest of the perishables they couldn't take with them. After the table was set, he headed into the pantry to pack up the bread, cheese and dried meats that would do well for traveling and set it by the door, going into his room to grab his pack, as well. Walking back into the dining room after setting his pack next to the door with the second, smaller, pack that had food in it, he was greeted with the sight of Gandalf and all the dwarves, except for Thorin, sat at the table. Taking a seat, he had a quick, small breakfast before standing and taking his dishes into the kitchen, quickly cleaning them and placing them away, returning to the dining room. Standing in the doorway to the dining room, he listened to snippets of the conversations going on around the table, ignoring the looks he'd occasionally get from the dwarves sitting around his table. "Uncle normally never sleeps this long," Kili says nudging Fili in the side as the blond took a drink from his coffee.

"Rarely ever has a bed that soft to sleep in," the blond mutters with a smirk after swallowing his coffee and rubbing shoulders with his brother. "I don't blame him for sleeping late." Bilbo now realized where the noises he'd heard last night had come from and shook his head before turning his attention to someone else's conversation so he wasn't eavesdropping on the now-whispering brothers.

Gloin and Oin's talk mostly consisted of the red-haired dwarf catching his brother up on the progress of Gloin's son, Gimli. "He wanted to come along with us, hoping to meet his One but his mother said she'd have my head so I had to tell him to stay behind," Gloin murmurs and Oin gave him a sympathetic pat on the shoulder before turning back to his food.

His ears twitched when he heard movement behind him and he stepped out of the way so Thorin could enter to sit down for breakfast. "Why didn't anyone wake me?" the blue-eyed dwarf asks in a tired voice.

"We were surprised you, Bombur and Gandalf didn't awaken when one of Master Baggins' disgruntled relatives came knocking and shrieking at the crack of dawn," Dwalin snickers and Thorin looked over to Bilbo.

The hobbit gave a sheepish smile before chuckling, "Lobelia must be having an off-day, normally I swear she can wake the dead." The dwarf didn't seem to be too amused and glared, causing Bilbo to shrug, leaning harder against the wall before pushing away and heading for the door. "I'll be back in thirty minutes, I have to go talk to my gardener about watching the garden and hand over the key to the gate."

===============POV=Change=================

Thorin stared at the door that had been shut for a couple of moments before turning to the rest and filling a plate. "So, a shrieking, hobbit woman woke the rest of you up?" he asks and all except a few nodded. "That must've been interesting to see."

"I think Master Baggins forgot we were here because he walked out of his room, shirtless and hair down, to stalk to the door," Fili says before taking a sip of the coffee in front of him, taking a bite of eggs.

Kili lifted his head from his brother's shoulder and looked over at his Uncle. "They argued over his Will and what happened to this place if he happened to die while on the quest with us before she stomped off angrily," he says playing around with the last piece of egg on his plate.

Thorin hmmed before taking a good look around his surroundings for the first time and could admit to being impressed, inside his thoughts, about the amount of care that seemed to have gone into the home. "Bilbo's Father built this smial for his Mother as a courting gift," Gandalf says and Thorin glanced to the Wizard. "The boy's been through more than he'll ever willingly tell you." He knew the old man was keeping something from him and Thorin wanted to know, if not needed to, if the hobbit was coming with them on their quest. "We need to stop off somewhere before we leave the Shire so I can speak to an old friend."

===============POV=Change=================

Bilbo returned from the Gamgee's just in time to watch the dwarves walk out his front door, Gandalf holding his packs and he watched as Thorin locked up the door before pulling it closed behind him. "Ah Bilbo, you're back," the Wizard exclaims when he caught sight of him. "How much gold do you think it would take to convince your Grandfather to part with fourteen of his ponies and a horse?"

Raising a golden brow, the hobbit took his packs when Gandalf held them out for him and hmmed. "That depends on his mood, although I'm pretty sure if you show up with me he'll go easy on you," Bilbo murmurs as he shrugs on his packs. "Why? Are we stopping in at Tookborough before leaving the Shire?"

"Of course, I need to ask him about something before we leave," Gandalf chuckles giving him an amused smile, "and you need to say goodbye."

"Oh no," Bilbo groans hands going up to cover his ears in apprehension as he realized the agony they were going to be in after his Grandmother found out he tried to leave without saying goodbye. "My poor, poor ears."

The Wizard let out a bark of laughter before saying, "You shouldn't have tried to leave without saying goodbye, now Adamanta has every reason to pull you around by your ears while lecturing you."

"Evil, evil Wizard," the hobbit growls in his native language as he stalks out the gate ahead of everyone before an evil smirk curled the small man's lips and he suddenly took off at a run. "See you there, slowpokes."

The dwarves and Wizard stared at him a moment before the three youngest dwarves, Fili, Kili and Ori took off after him, at a run, as well, laughing at the older ones. "Catch the hobbit," "We can't let him beat us," Fili and Kili yell at the same time as they followed after Bilbo and Thorin glared at Gandalf.

"Bilbo's trying to get there ahead of time so he can convince his Grandmother that he was planning to say goodbye," the Wizard chuckles before leading the way for the others towards Tookborough. "Not that I can blame him, Adamanta can be a bit frightening when angry."

Balin spoke up then as he stepped even with Gandalf, "Sounds like an interesting woman."

Gandalf nodded, staring ahead as they continued moving and his eyes got a far-away look to them. "She moved into Bag End to care for Bilbo the first five years after his parents were killed, even though he didn't think he needed the help," he murmurs before going quiet, seemingly lost in thought.

It was almost an hour later when they reached a sign proclaiming the area as Tookborough. And it was a few minutes after that when the sound of children's laughter from just ahead told them they were getting close and made them wonder what was going on ahead of them. Then an annoyed, female voice rang out, "Bilbo Baggins-Took, if you are armed while playing with my children, I will make sure your ears become a little pointier."

This was followed by a yelp and the laughter of several children as a child's voice called out, "Uncle Bilbo's going on an adventure with Dwarves, Mamma."

They turned a corner and could finally see what was going on as a heavily-pregnant, female hobbit with dirty-blonde hair and grey eyes released a grimacing Bilbo's ear before speaking to a little girl with pale blonde hair. "I heard and I can see three of the Dwarves, Foxglove," she says before turning her attention back to Bilbo. "I was serious, Cousin, you will take off any weapons you're wearing before playing with my children. Adonis went to get Grandma and Grandpa, they are on their way from the main house." With that, the woman waddled back into her smial, followed by two, small, identical twin boys who held each others' hands.

"Thank you, Asclepias," Bilbo says loud enough to be heard inside the smial as he moves over to a table, beginning to remove his throwing knives from the various spots on his person until all ten of them were on the table. As he stepped away, a small hand reached out from under the table to reach for one and Bilbo grabbed it before softly pulling the fauntling out from under the table. "Oleander, what is your Mother's rule about weapons?"

"No touching, which isn't fair," the child says in a sullen voice as Bilbo releases his hand giving him a small push towards the other six children that had remained outside the home.

Thorin watched all of this with interested eyes before glancing back at the throwing knives sitting on the table. "I thought you said you didn't know how to use any weapons?" he asks and Bilbo whirled around, obviously not knowing they'd arrived and three of the older, male faunts attacked while his back was turned, catching him by surprise.

The hobbit grunted in surprise as he hit the ground with three children trying to make sure he wasn't able to get back up. "No, I didn't," he answers as he play-wrestled with the three faunts that had knocked him to the ground. "You asked if I was proficient in sword or axe and, considering that I like my knives, I'm proficient at neither of those, though I can use a sword if I have to."

Leaving it be for now, Thorin glanced around to see Fili seated on the ground with a small, black-haired hobbit girl and Foxglove on his lap as they asked him what seemed like an endless stream of questions, most of which seemed to revolve around his braids and beads. Kili had the one Bilbo had called Oleander, who seemed to be mesmerized by the bow strapped to him seated in front of him and was also being asked questions. While Ori was deep into a conversation with a knitting male hobbit with a protruding stomach that was sat on the porch of the smial in a rocking chair. "Hey Sis," the male hobbit in the rocking chair yells, "do you have anymore of the gold yarn?"

"Yes I do, Lark, and if you even think about getting up by yourself to get it, I will tell your husband so he'll get overprotective and not allow you out of his sight," was the yelled answer from inside the smial.

Bilbo somehow managed to get free of the three faunts and ran into the smial before coming back out a few minutes later with an armful of yarn balls that he passed to the rocking chair bound hobbit. "Thanks Bilbo," he breathes and Bilbo gave him a smile before taking a seat on the porch next to the rocking chair, giving the man's stomach a soft pat as he turned his head towards the road that led farther into Tookborough. "I swear, everyone's worrying is starting to drive me batty."

"You can't really blame them, Lark, your child is half-Man, you're already really big and you still have three months," Bilbo murmurs patting the other male's hand comfortingly. "They just don't want you to hurt yourself or the baby and we all know Bane would not take either of those things well."

Lark gave a quiet laugh and glanced down at his cousin. "Since when did Bilbo, the 'Mad Baggins' become the voice of reason?" he asks teasingly and Bilbo smirked, sticking his tongue out at him before standing as he caught sight of the elderly hobbit couple coming slowly down the hill, followed by what looked like the entire Took clan.

"I didn't expect everyone to want to say bye," he breathes and Lark laughed as he began knitting again. "It isn't funny."

"Is too," Lark snickered before pressing a hand to his stomach and he gasped, rubbing at the spot his child had just kicked. "Fine, I'll stop making fun of your Uncle Bilbo, now stop kicking me."

Bilbo let out a laugh, a true laugh, and danced out of the way as Lark moved to kick him, hopping off the porch and twirling away as a knitting needle was thrown at him with startling accuracy, impaling the ground behind and to the left of his foot. "Well, that would've hurt," he points out and the arriving hobbits all laughed.

"You should know better than to antagonize a pregnant Took, Bilbo," the white-haired male hobbit that had just arrived chuckles as he helped the equally white-haired female up the steps of the porch and into another rocking chair. "They're not very nice, especially if they're not allowed to move under their own power after a certain point."

Lark growled for a second before glancing at Bilbo and pointing at his knitting needle, "Can you bring that back to me, please?" Pulling the needle free from the ground, Bilbo handed it back to Lark and walked over to his grandparents.

Adamanta Took nee Chubb stared at her Grandson for a few moments before crooking a finger at him and Bilbo, knowing what was about to happen, moved towards her anyway. Quick as a snake's strike, she had a tight hold on the tip of his right ear and he yelped, curbing the instinct to jerk away from the pain, knowing it would just get worse. "You better not have been thinking about leaving without saying bye," she breathes and his Grandfather took that moment to beat a hasty retreat as Bilbo shook his head quickly. She released her hold on his ear, patting the top of his head fondly before pulling him into a hug. "Good because I would have your cousins tearing Arda apart looking for you if you had." Her fingers brushed against the three small, black hoops at the top of his left ear and a tear escaped her eye. "You remind me so much of your Mother, Belladonna never told us goodbye, either, just reappeared one day and started telling us all about what she'd done. So, in remembrance of her, I'll tell you good luck and hope you come back." After saying that she kissed him on the forehead before suddenly all of the faunts surrounded them and Foxglove took up residence on Adamanta's lap.

Bilbo moved back so the children could sit around her and watched as they all listened, entranced, as she started telling them stories. Looking around, he noticed that his Grandfather and Gandalf were deep into a discussion, probably arguing over the price of the ponies and horse. He raised an eyebrow when he saw that the dwarves and his cousins were all grouped together, talking. Intrigued, he made his way over to them, making sure they didn't notice him and listened as the dwarves asked his family questions about him.

He wasn't at all insulted that they hadn't asked him and they'd probably learn more this way, considering he didn't like speaking about his past or himself, period. "What do your earrings mean, I noticed that Mister Baggins and the rest of you guys seem to be the only hobbits with them?" Kili suddenly asks catching Bilbo's attention.

"It's a Took thing," one of his younger cousins, Nightshade, explains as he moved his hair out of the way to reveal his ears. "Black means death of a family member and different shapes mean different things, like Bilbo's plain hoops mean that whoever died, died during a battle. His parents and unborn sibling died during an orc and warg attack during the Fell Winter. Grey means death of a child and like with the black ones, the shape means different things, plain hoops for died during battle and others for sickness or miscarriage." He paused to take a deep breath before finishing his explanation. "Gold hoops are for every orc killed in increments of ten, silver for wargs in increments of five, blue for any other, individual, threat to the Shire and white are for threats while adventuring outside the Shire."

Kili's eyes widened, having seen at least one gold hoop in Bilbo's left ear and he looked away from the hobbit he'd been listening to to see if he could find Bilbo. "Bilbo's official count is three black hoops, one gold hoop, two silver hoops and two blue," Asclepias says as she waddles over to the group with a basket of muffins, offering them to the group. "That would be twelve orcs and ten wargs, if you were wondering. The other hobbits call him the 'Mad Baggins' because when his family was killed by a pale orc, he kind of lost it, doesn't remember much of the Fell Winter after that until Gandalf and reinforcements from Bree arrived."

Pushing away from the tree he'd been leaning against when he noticed Gandalf moving away from his Grandfather, he headed over to Gerontius Took so he could say goodbye. "Grandpa?" he breathes when he noticed that the older hobbit was lost in thought.

Hearing Bilbo's voice seemed to snap him out of it and the Old Took glanced at his Grandson, reaching out to pull him into an almost bone-crushing hug. "I don't expect you to come back soon but you better live to be able to come back, even if only for a little while, got that, Little Dragon?" he growls against Bilbo's hair and the younger hobbit nods, returning the hug. Releasing the golden-haired hobbit, Gerontius ruffled Bilbo's hair before walking over to join Adamanta on the porch while the younger hobbit noticed Gandalf returning with a group of ponies, as well as his horse.

Sighing, he walked over to the table where he'd put all his knives and began returning them to their original places on his person. When he heard a familiar, angry snort his head jerked in the direction of the ponies just in time to see his Mother's pony rear when Gandalf tried to hand Thorin his reigns. "Avrim, stop that," Bilbo snapped and the horse immediately quieted, returning to all fours, dancing away from everyone as far as his lead would allow.

"Maybe Master Baggins should ride that pony," Balin suggests and Thorin nods, taking the reigns of another pony.

Sliding the last knife back into it's spot underneath his hair, Bilbo pulled his packs back on, as well before he made his way over to Avrim and hopped up into the saddle. He raised his hand in farewell as he followed the dwarves and Gandalf back out of Tookborough and then out of the Shire, entirely, towards Bree.


	4. Chapter 4

**AN:** I do not own Hobbit.

==============New=Chapter=================

They'd been on the road for a little over two weeks and Bilbo glared down at his hands as his thoughts raced around the rather interesting dreams he'd been having for the last three days. Dreams about the one and only Thorin Oakenshield and he groaned quietly when he couldn't get them to leave his mind. "Merciful Yavanna, why?" he breathes before lifting his gaze to stare at the dwarf that was the cause of his internal conflict as he rubbed the mark at the back of his neck, hidden by his hair.

"You okay, Mister Boggins?" Kili asks as he and Fili pulled their ponies up on either side of him and Bilbo jerked his hand away from the back of his neck before nodding hurriedly.

"Fine," he murmurs looking away from Thorin's back to stare off at the grass on the side of the road.

Because of that, he didn't see the mischievous looks the two shared over his head or the head-shakes of the other dwarves other than Thorin. "So, we had a question that we've been meaning to ask you since before we left the Shire," Fili says and Bilbo glanced at him with a single, golden eyebrow raised.

It was Kili that asked, though, and his question had Bilbo's head whipping towards him and a bright red blush covering his face, as well as his pointed ears. "Where is a Hobbit's mate mark?" was the sweetly asked question and then Bilbo noticed the mischief in his eyes.

Slowly forcing himself to calm down, Bilbo made a humming noise before answering, "Depends on the family." Noticing the confused interest that replaced the mischief in their eyes, he decided to give an explanation of what he meant. "The Brandybuck's are known for having their marks on the inside of their left thigh," both boys went a little pink at that, as did any other dwarf within earshot of them. "The Sackville's mark can be behind either ear, Baggins' are normally at the bend of one of their elbows and the Chubb family's is on the back of the left hand. The Tooks' are on the back of the neck, which is why most Tooks, male and female, prefer long hair."

"So, you're saying that a Hobbit's mark could be anywhere on their body?" Fili asks causing Bilbo to hum in agreement before noticing that Thorin and the other dwarves were throwing looks back at them every now and then. "How does anyone find their mate, then?"

"Asks one of the Dwarves who keep theirs hidden under a cuff," Bilbo murmurs and Fili gave him a mock angry look. "Well, before we come of age at thirty-three, most fauntlings are rather a handful to control, Took, Brandybuck and Chubb children being the worst. Most couples will figure out their supposed to be with each other then, like my cousin, Primula Brandybuck, and her beau, Drogo Baggins found out when we all went swimming when we were nineteen but that's because Primula had the habit of sitting cross-legged in short-shorts. Once we learn how to read the mark we naturally start to gravitate towards that person or, well, that's what I've been told."

Kili cocked his head to the side, glancing at his brother before asking, "What do you mean?"

"I don't know how to read the language my mark is in," he murmurs, "so I wouldn't exactly know."

Both boys made _'hmm'_ noises before the group went quiet for a few moments before Bofur asked, "It's not Elvish, is it?"

Bilbo tried to control the urge to laugh but couldn't hold it in before shaking his head as his laughter echoed out around the group. "No, it's not," he snickers once he finally got most of his laughter under control. "Thanks to my Mother's many trips to Rivendell to visit Elrond when I was a fauntling, I learned most Elven languages so I could speak with his children when they insisted they'd forgotten how to speak Westron."

"That would be Elladan and Elrohir, quite the tricksters those two," Gandalf says over his shoulder and Bilbo nodded. "I'm sure you spent more time with Arwen in the library, though."

Bilbo had been lost in memories of all the pranks he'd helped those two with when Gandalf's words finally registered and he coughed before shrugging. "Of course," he chuckles looking up at the sky to avoid the look the Wizard was giving him. "I absolutely did not help them with the prank that turned you, Elrond and Mother blue."

"And that, Bilbo Baggins," Gandalf says with a laugh, "I'll believe when orcs fly."

===============POV=Change=================

Thorin couldn't help the quiet chuckle that left his lips at the image his mind conjured of a blue Gandalf and Elrond, as well as a featureless hobbit woman tapping her foot like Bilbo did when he was agitated. "Could it be in Khuzdhul, then?" Balin asks and Thorin glanced over his shoulder just in time to see the halfling shrug before he returned to looking forward.

"Wouldn't know, dwarves are very peculiar on who they let learn their language, no offense," he heard Bilbo say as he scanned the area ahead of the company and glanced up at the sky to check time.

"None taken," the old dwarf says and Thorin glanced back before stopping the company for the night.

Everyone slid from their ponies, quickly getting a camp made and fire started, dinner slowly simmering away as Fili, Kili, Ori and Bilbo all spoke lowly to each other. Thorin raised an eye as the secretive talk ended when Bombur started handing out dinner, the four of them moving closer to the fire to eat. As everyone finished up and the bowls were taken to the creek to be cleaned out, everyone not on watch settled down and listened as Balin started telling stories.

Most of the company had been dozing lightly when a howl rent the air and Thorin watched as Bilbo jerked upright, instantly alert and a hand going for the knife at his calf. "That was a warg, right?" he breathes and the others nodded. "There goes hoping I was mistaken and it was a regular wolf."

"What, don't like wargs? Then I suppose you don't like orcs, neither?" Fili asks with a joking smile as he tried to cover up his own fear and Thorin glared at him through the fire before pushing to his feet, going over to sit with Dwalin on watch.

Bilbo was glaring at him, as well, but it softened somewhat when he'd realized the same thing Thorin had, Fili was scared. "Don't worry about it, boys," Balin says coming over to sit with Fili, Kili and Bilbo. "Thorin has more reason to hate orcs than most."

Thorin listened from his spot beside Dwalin as Balin told them about the Battle of Azanulbizar and Azog the Defiler. When Balin reached the part about how he'd wounded Azog and the orcs had all retreated back into the mountain, he looked over his shoulder to see the hobbit was pale, clutching at his right side and breathing heavily. "What's wrong, Bilbo?" Kili asked having noticed the halfling's reaction as well.

The hobbit was shivering, now, his eyes wide and glassy like they were looking into the past before he shuddered, eyes drifting closed as he brought his knees up to his chest. "A pale Orc," he murmurs keeping his head down and not opening his eyes, "could be a different one, though." Gandalf sat up from where he'd been leaning against the stone behind him and glanced over at the Hobbit.

Fili looked like he wanted to question the hobbit when Gandalf cut him off, "Give him a second, Bilbo's memories of the orc attack during the Fell Winter are a little jumbled and hard to sort through."

Thorin watched as the hobbit buried his face in his knees as he clutched at his hair with his right hand and began rocking a bit. "We were heading back home after spending a week at Tookborough but the heavy snow and ice was making it a little difficult and we weren't moving very fast. I remember hearing the

howls first, which wasn't anything new, everyone in the Shire had been hearing them since the river froze over. When everyone began hearing Black Speech is when the panic really started but because of the wind no one could really tell how close they were to us so the adults made the decision to keep moving. It was absolute chaos after that, my Father was one of the first to die, dragged off by a warg long before the orcs began attacking. My Mother, well, she ended up protecting me and some of my cousins as a huge pale orc with a claw-like thing attached to the stump of his left arm on a white warg, as well as a bunch of others circled us. She only had one knife left as all the others littered the corpses around us and when she threw it, the white orc moved so it struck him in the shoulder. Laughing, he pulled the knife free before flinging it back at her and it struck her in the chest, killing her instantly. I don't remember anything after that until Gandalf and the Rangers arrived, apparently finding me injured and unconscious, almost a mile from my Mother's corpse, surrounded by a massacre of wargs and orcs, none of which was the pale one."

"Azog still lives?" Thorin growls watching the halfling as he ran the fingers of his left hand over the black hoops in the tip of his ear, once again lost in his memories.

"So it would seem," Gandalf murmurs, "though I didn't know any of this as Bilbo and the other faunts who survived that night were so traumatized by the event they couldn't, or wouldn't, speak of it."

"There were others that survived besides Bilbo?" Fili asks and the Wizard nodded, keeping his eyes on the rocking hobbit.

Gandalf made a hmming noise before relighting his pipe. "If I remember correctly, you met most of them when we visited Tookborough," he breathes releasing a puff of smoke at the same time. "Asclepias and Lark climbed into the trees, shooting down wargs and orcs that got too close to the cave where Belladonna had hidden most of the younger fauntlings. Nightshade lost his twin brother to a female berserker before he threw a lit lantern full of oil at her. Most of the group that you'd been conversing with survived that night and the three I mentioned are how we figured out that Bilbo had killed the orcs and wargs surrounding him." Throughout Gandalf's explanation, Thorin had been watching the halfling and noticed that close to the end, he'd stopped rocking, hand falling away from his ear as his head fell forward onto his knees. Bilbo had wore himself out while trying to keep back his memories and was now sleeping curled into himself. "When we found them, Nightshade and his mother were trying to keep Bilbo from dying because of a stomach wound where it seemed an orc had tried to cut him in half. Azalea was pregnant and Belladonna had forced her to stay with the younger children, ignoring the fact that by that logic, she should've stayed with the children, as well."

The Wizard's eyes got a far away look in them and Thorin's nephews looked at each other before glancing at the hobbit beside them, settling into their bedrolls to go to sleep. When Thorin realized that the Wizard had slipped into sleep, as well, he shook his head before standing and patting Dwalin on the shoulder. Moving across the camp towards his bedroll, he paused beside where Bilbo slept, still curled into himself and grabbed the halfling's blanket, putting it over him before continuing to his spot. As he lay down, staring up at the sky, he thought over what he now knew about the hobbit and sighed, closing his eyes.

===============Time===Skip=================

Thorin was in an abysmal mood, it was raining, again, had been raining for a week and a half and it was getting to be extremely annoying. But that wasn't the only thing that was wrong, the company was in a terrible state and then there was his own problems, like the dreams about his One that had morphed into dreams of a certain hobbit. Speaking of the halfling, Thorin looked back over his shoulder to see Bilbo glaring up at the sky before pulling the hood of his water-proofed cloak over his head. "Mister Gandalf, can't you do something about this deluge?" Dori yells over the sound of the pouring rain and Thorin snickered before turning back to face forward.

Gandalf sighed before answering with, "It is raining, Master Dori, and it will continue to do so until it is done. If you wish to change the weather of the world, you should find yourselves another wizard."

"Are there any?" he heard Bilbo ask and glanced back to see that he'd moved a little closer to the front.

"What?" Gandalf asks glancing back at the hobbit with a confused look.

"Other wizards?" the halfling asks grumpily from underneath the hood of his cloak and Thorin felt his lips twitch with the beginnings of a smirk before he could stop himself. The hobbit was the only one he'd seen that could sass the Wizard without being glared at and the dwarf thought it was funny.

Gandalf looked thoughtful for a moment before trying to light his pipe with the rain pouring down on them. "There's five of us," he murmurs giving up with his pipe and returning it to the inside of his robes. "The greatest of our order is Sarumon, the White." He paused again to wipe away some water that had made it through his hat. "Then there are the two blue Wizards, I don't quite remember their names."

"And the fifth?" Bilbo questions when the Wizard seemed to leave one out as he had stopped speaking a few minutes ago.

The Wizard hmmed a moment before finishing with a softly spoken. "Well, that would be Radagast, the Brown."

Thorin almost started laughing with the other dwarves at the next question out of the halfling's mouth, barely reigning it in. "Is he a great Wizard or is he...more like you?" the hobbit asks with an innocent look on his face and Gandalf looked greatly offended by the question.

"I think he's a great wizard, in his own way," the Wizard answers raising an eyebrow at the hobbit as a small smile appears on the small being's face. "He's a gentle soul who prefers the company of animals to others. He keeps a watchful eye over the vast forest lands to the East, and a good thing too, for always Evil will look to find a foothold in this world."

It was a couple of hours later, the rain had stopped and Thorin had halted the company so they could make camp near a ruined, old farmhouse. The dark-haired dwarf was angry with the Wizard for arguing with him over the spot he'd picked to set up camp. It didn't seem like a terrible place for them to stop for the night but Gandalf had wanted them to continue on a little farther. Thorin even noticed that the halfling seemed to be having misgivings about where he'd had them set up camp but had yet to complain or even say anything, though he'd noticed the small twitches of the being's ears.

As Bombur was finishing up dinner, Thorin looked up to see who all was in camp before realizing that the hobbit was missing. Turning his attention to Bofur who was whittling away while letting the stew cool a bit and whistling a merry tune. "Where's the Halfling?" he asked and the be-hatted dwarf glanced up at him, pausing in his carving to glance around.

"The burglar said something about there being something off with the smell here," he answers and, chuckling at the offended look on Thorin's face, tacked on, "he made sure to tell me it had nothing to do with us and that whatever it was smelled like rotting meat not unwashed dwarf." Shaking his head, Thorin settled more comfortably where he was sitting and tucked into the bowl of stew Bombur handed him.

===============POV=Change=================

The golden-haired hobbit was currently sitting high in a pine tree overlooking two trolls standing around a cook pot, one whining incessantly about the overabundance of mutton they'd been eating lately. About the third time the troll had begun complaining again, a third troll returned with two of the companies' ponies tucked under his arms and Bilbo sighed, "Well, that's just great." Reaching into the pouch at his waist, the one he never removed, he dug through until he found the small case Nightshade had handed him when he'd walked passed him before they'd left Tookborough. Bilbo gave a soft snicker when he saw several tea infusers that had dried, highly poisonous herbs and plants in them before grabbing one.

Closing the case and placing it back in his pouch, he shimmied along the branch he was on until he was right above the troll's cook pot, dropping the infuser. It landed in the pot right as the troll sitting next to the one stirring whatever was inside sneezed. "It's a floater," he growls.

The one who'd come back with the horses snickered, "It might improve the flavor," causing Bilbo to grimace in disgust while at the same time being quite relieved none of them had noticed the infuser fall into the pot.

"Disgusting," Bilbo hisses before moving back on the branch so he could shimmy down the tree and go free the horses.

The poison was slow enough acting that the trolls wouldn't notice until all of them had tried it. "Now, that's good," the cooking troll says and Bilbo peeked around the tree as he landed to watch as he let the other two try the green liquid.

"Half-wits," Bilbo murmurs before moving quickly, and silently, over to where the ponies were corralled. As he moved, he watched as the trolls each took another spoonful of the broth and sighed as he pulled one of his knives to cut the rope holding the gate closed.

Ducking down when one of the trolls stood, he grimaced in disgust when the thing scratched its ass before sitting back down. Grossed out, the halfling continued with the knot and began cursing the trolls to Mordor under his breath as he realized there were several knots holding the damned corral together. Bilbo almost had the last knot cut through when all of the dwarves decided to make an appearance, riling up the trolls and making it harder for the hobbit to remain unseen.

The heel of one of the trolls caught him in the back and he rolled into a bush just as the thing turned to see what he'd almost stepped on. "Damn it," he growls before slipping from the bush and into the forest before he could be seen. Bilbo watched, bewildered, as the trolls slowly caught, bagged and spitted the dwarves before shaking his head.

One of the trolls let out a grunt before falling to the ground, not breathing, and one of the others moves over to him, poking at him. "Bert, hey Bert?" he says while poking at the dead troll before he swayed, "I don't feel so good, Tom."

The troll that had been watching the dwarves glanced back at the now-falling Bill and Tom stared at his downed comrades for a moment before he stumbled, falling back as his breathing became labored before stopping altogether. "Now what's going on?" Thorin groused and Bilbo chuckled as he emerged from behind the tree he'd used as cover.

"Seems the trolls that were going to eat you ate something poisonous," Bilbo says as he kicked dirt over the fire under the dwarves tied to the spit before cutting them free and moving to undo the ties of the ones stuck in bags.

Thorin stared at Bilbo as the halfling gave him a small, secretive smile as he released him from his bag before heading over to the cook pot, upending the contents over the flame beneath. "You poisoned them?" he questions studying the halfling as he made a disgusted noise before reaching into the cook pot to retrieve what looked like an infuser.

"The good thing about Nightshade being a Healer is he makes very effective poisons, as well," Bilbo answers cryptically before dropping the infuser into an empty canvas bag from the pouch at his waist.

"The lot of you seem to have handled this rather well," Gandalf says as he suddenly appeared atop a rather large boulder. Bilbo shrugged watching the Wizard as he floated down from the rock as Fili and Kili freed the ponies. "Let's head back to camp so we can get a little sleep before continuing on."

===============Time===Skip=================

The next morning, Gandalf and Thorin seemed to remember that there had to be a cave somewhere around because the trolls would've used it to hide during the day. When they'd found it, Bilbo had refused to go within twenty feet of it, telling everyone that the smell was unbearable enough from where he was standing, he wasn't going to get closer and make himself sick. The dwarves had chuckled a bit at this but hadn't said anything and gone into the cave to see all of what was in there. Bilbo watched from where he stood, listening as the dwarves started burying what gold they'd found while Gandalf and Thorin discussed a set of Elvish swords they'd found. When everyone left the cave, Gandalf came over and handed a sword to Bilbo with the words, "Here, this is about your size."

The halfling took it as his jaw clenched and he growled, "Well, that was insulting," before strapping the sword on around his waist and stalking away from the Wizard.

Bilbo paused when he heard a weird noise that he didn't recognize, as well as what sounded like yelling before Thorin yelled, "Something's coming."

When Radagast appeared, yelling a string of things, "Murder," had been the only one he could understand from it. And while the brown Wizard had been trying to remember what to say, Bilbo had drifted away from the conversation, listening for anything else happening around them that would, maybe, try to eat them. Coming back to himself, he notices that the Wizards have moved so they were standing by themselves and having a private conversation that seemed very serious.

Shrugging at that, he moved over to where the dwarves were standing and closed his eyes, concentrating on listening to what else was going on around them, ignoring the Wizards' conversation. He'd pulled one of his knives and sent it flying before he even realized what was going on, opening his eyes to see a warg corpse fall off a nearby crag as distant howling filled the air. "Good shot," Nori says before another warg appeared and jumped down landing on Ori. Thorin killed it with his new sword and the company stilled as a third warg attacks from the other side.

Kili shoots it but it gets back up, only to be killed by Dwalin and Bilbo pulls his knife free of the warg he'd killed as everyone starts speaking. "Warg-scouts!" Thorin growls sword still in his hand and Bilbo put the throwing knife back before pulling the sword that had been hidden in the side of his pack. "Which means an Orc-pack isn't far behind."

"Far enough away that I can't hear them yet," Bilbo mutters and Thorin gives him a glance before surveying the area around them.

Gandalf was also looking around before looking at Thorin. "Who did you tell about your quest beyond your kin?" he asks and Thorin's gaze snapped to him.

"No one," the Dwarf King growls blue eyes shining angrily.

"Who did you tell?" the Wizard asks again and Bilbo's fingers clenched harder around his sword.

Thorin was starting to get annoyed, some of the other dwarves, too and he glanced to see the halfling fairly twitching in his skin, knuckles white where they gripped the sword he held. "No one, I swear. Now, what in Durin's name is going on?" he growls.

"You're being hunted," Gandalf answers.

Dwalin murmured, "We have to get out of here."

"We can't, ponies are gone," Ori says and Bilbo glanced back to see that he was right, "they bolted."

The Brown Wizard piped in then, suggesting that he draw them off and Bilbo felt his ear twitch at the sound of Black Speech somewhere back in the forest, grimacing. Thorin noticed the change in the halfling's expression and realized the orcs must be within his range of hearing before glancing to the Wizards, knowing he'd missed something of their conversation. "These are Rhosgobel Rabbits, I'd like to see them try," Radagast says before climbing onto his sled and riding off into the forest.

While they were running across the rocky plane, Kili snickered when an Orc-rider crashed into one of the large rocks chasing Radagast and commented that the Brown Wizard, "Has to be crazy."

Bilbo normally would've agreed if they weren't in danger of being attacked at any moment, pausing behind one of the rocks when everyone else did. "Stay together," Gandalf says.

"Move," Thorin growls and everyone heads to the next rock big enough to hide everyone where they paused again.

Continuing on like this a few more times, Bilbo thought they were in the clear until Ori accidentally stepped out past the edge of a rock. "Ori, no!" Thorin says before grabbing him and pulling him back, catching at least one orc's attention.

"Come on, quickly," Gandalf says motioning the dwarves to move and Thorin glances at the Wizard.

"Where are you leading us?" he growls but the Wizard didn't answer just kept moving and Thorin growled before doing the same.

When they stop again, Bilbo hears the orc and warg on the outcropping above them, lifting his lip in a grimace. "Rider," he breathes as he pulls one of his knives while Kili notched an arrow. They both jumped out almost at the same time before arrow and knife took flight, arrow bringing down the warg as knife embeds itself in the orc's forehead.

Unfortunately, the warg didn't die and alerted the rest of where they were and Bilbo heard who he thought was the leader bark out in Black Speech, _"The Dwarf-scum are over there! After them!"_ This made him curl his lips in disgust as he pulled the knife from the dead orc when they ran to follow Gandalf.

Thorin notices that he isn't the only one that's noticed the wargs trying to surround them when he heard the Halfling hiss, "Fucking wargs," under his breath and almost chuckled but held it back.

Gloin said something that didn't quite register to him before Gandalf yelled, "This way! Quickly!"

"Getting tired of him saying that," Bilbo mutters under his breath as he comes to a stop with all the other dwarves, not at all liking the fact that they were surrounded.

"There's more coming," Kili yells and Bilbo barely managed to hold back the snarky comments that wanted to spill from his lips.

Thorin glanced around, not noticing when Gandalf detached from the group to disappear through a crack in a rock. "Shoot them," he growls and Kili starts rapid-firing arrows.

Fili shouts, "We're surrounded," as Gandalf reappeared.

"This way, you fools," he yells bringing everyone's attention to him as he disappeared through the crack again.

Thorin started pushing everyone in that direction, growling, "Come on, move!" Bilbo threw another knife as one of the wargs near the crack moved to block their way and sped up, helping Thorin push the others. "Quickly, before another one gets the same idea!" Bilbo yanked his knife free as he passed and turned, flinging it into the throat of the warg that'd been just behind them before sliding into the crevice after Thorin. Hearing the sound of an Elvish horn as he landed just behind Thorin and Kili, as well as the sounds of fighting, Bilbo glanced at the Wizard before looking at the ground. "Elves," Thorin snarled glancing back up at the crevice.

"There's a path," Dwalin says catching Thorin's attention, "do we follow it?"

The leading dwarf looked like he wanted to say 'no,' but Gandalf cut in before he could with, "I think that would be wise."

As they moved along the narrow path, a smell that Bilbo knew by heart began to surround them and he glanced at the Wizard before his gaze moved to Thorin. "Oh he is not going to like this," he breathes placing a hand to his forehead as he slid his sword back into its place on the side of his pack.

Once the path had widened and everyone could see where they were, Gandalf murmured, "Welcome to the Valley of Imraldis."

"Rivendell," Bilbo sighs out as he felt a headache coming on.

"And the last Homely House East of the sea," Gandalf continued like the hobbit hadn't spoken, which caused the little being to glare at him.

An argument broke out and Bilbo tuned it out, rubbing at his temples as he breathed, "Sweet and merciful Yavanna, please give me the will to keep from killing them all in their sleep."

He hadn't noticed that Fili and Kili had moved to stand on either side of him until he heard them chuckle softly, low enough not to be heard by the others. "Now that wasn't very nice," Fili chuckles and Bilbo glares at him through the corner of his eye.

The argument had reached the point where it was just easier to listen than try to ignore it and Bilbo sighed, running a hand through his hair, which was beginning to come out of the knot he'd wound at the back of his neck. He caught the tail-end of whatever Gandalf had been saying, "-nd respect and no small degree of charm. Which is why you will leave the talking to me."

Bilbo rolled his eyes before they all began following the Wizard across the bridge into Rivendell, wishing the pounding in his temples would disappear faster. Once they arrive at the stairs leading into Elrond's home, the halfling watches as the dwarves shift and look around uneasily. His attention is captured by the dark-haired elf slowly making his way down the stairs towards them and he shifts so he was standing closer to Fili and Kili, almost hidden by them both. "Mithrandir," he greets Gandalf with a smile before glancing at the group of dwarves.

"Lindir," the Wizard says in greeting.

Bilbo snickers before muttering, "Party pooper," under his breath and Kili noticed the elf's ear twitch, a look of suspicion entering his eyes for a moment before being gone the next.

"Lastannem i athrannedh i Vruinen," the elf murmurs and the dwarves shift uneasily again, not understanding what he'd said.

Bilbo sighs under his breath before repeating the elf's words, hoping to put the dwarves off the uneasiness which was causing him to get twitchy again. "He said that they'd heard we crossed into the Valley."

"I must speak with Lord Elrond," Gandalf says.

Lindir hums before saying, "He's not here."

Bilbo heard the clattering of hooves, moving in between dwarves until he was hidden close to the middle and definitely out of sight. "Not here? Where is he?" the Wizard asks and the sound of elf horns filled the air again.

"Ifridî bekâr!* Hold ranks!" Thorin yells and the dwarves suddenly had their weapons back out and formed a circle, pressing against each other as horses appeared to trot around them, Bilbo stuck in the middle of this.

When the horses finally stop, Bilbo rubbed his forehead as the pounding in his head began to diminish and noticed one of the riders break away from the others. "Elrond," he murmurs loud enough for the dwarves to hear.

"Gandalf," the Elf Lord says and Bilbo decided to tune out their conversation, not at all interested in anything going on around him as he slowly centered himself.

"Bilbo," Kili breathes quietly and the hobbit snapped out of it, glancing at the dark-haired Prince. "Can you start translating again before one of the others takes insult where there is none?"

The hobbit nodded before tuning back into the conversations going on around them, he heard Thorin say, "Indeed, he made no mention of you," and slapped himself in the forehead before groaning loudly.

Elrond didn't seem bothered by this and called out to Lindir in Elvish, "Light the fires, bring forth the wine. We must feed our guests."

"Food, he's offering us food," Bilbo murmurs before anyone could even think they were being insulted and all of the dwarves sort of relaxed. Fili and Kili shuffled closer together, revealing Bilbo which caused Lindir to start cursing like a sailor in his native tongue, causing the hobbit to grin and chuckle. "Lovely to see you, too, Lindir."

"Nuisance," the dark-haired elf mutters darkly before turning and heading inside to have the kitchen get dinner ready.

"Oh and make sure there's more than just vegetables on the table, dwarves aren't all that fond of them," the halfling yells after him which made Lindir glare over his shoulder and Elrond glance over at them from the conversation he was having with Gandalf.

Fili and Kili moved so they were blocking Bilbo from view again just in time for Elrond to miss seeing him, glancing over their shoulders at him. "Do we even want to know what you did to that Elf to make him so angry just at the sight of you?" Thorin breathes and Bilbo couldn't help the chuckles that escaped his lips at the memory of a pink Lindir chasing after Elladan and Elrohir while they yelled that they didn't do it.

"Well," Bilbo chokes out through the chuckles and took a deep breath to get himself back under control. "Arwen and I may have rigged a bucket of pink paint to fall on him outside the door to his rooms when he opened the door, blamed it on the twins." The dwarves snickered before they followed Elrond towards where dinner would be served.

===============POV=Change=================

It took everything Fili and Kili had to not laugh at Lindir throughout dinner, especially when Bilbo would let the occasional chuckle loose and Lord Elrond had to keep the Elf from throwing silverware down the table at him. Bilbo on the other hand seemed to not be listening to anything being said as Elrond inspected Uncle Thorin's and Gandalf's swords from the troll cave.

A sudden string of Elvish in two alternating voices caught the table's attention and brought it to the doorway as two, identical, male elves fell through, causing Bilbo to burst into laughter. "Glad we could amuse you so," the one who'd landed on bottom groans as he pushes his brother off of him and stands up.

"Well, when you fall through doorways, the two of you are lucky everyone didn't laugh at you," a dark-haired, bluish-lilac eyed elf woman says stepping over the two boys who both stuck their tongues out at her. "It's nice to see you again, Bilbo."

"You too, Arwen," Bilbo says through his laughter and Kili cracked, snickering into his fist as he glanced between the female elf, Bilbo and Lindir.

Kili's laughter got Fili started and he buried his face in his hands, barely managing to get the words, "Pink paint," to leave his lips before his laughs got to be too much.

"It was a great prank, especially when he chased the twins all over Rivendell while Bilbo and I watched from the roof, laughing so hard we almost fell off," Arwen says as a small smile lifted her lips.

Lindir growled, his hand tightening around the fork he held so hard that Fili was surprised it hadn't bent from the force and Elrond patted his other hand, comfortingly. "Still not as impressive as dying Father, Gandalf and Belladonna blue for a week," the twins say together, still on the floor and Elrond leans his face into his hand with a sigh.

"Please for the love of all the Valar, please no pranks while you're here, Bilbo," the Elf Lord groans causing all the younger ones to start laughing while the older dwarves tried to hide their smiles. "The last thing I need or desire is another Thranduil fiasco like last time."

"I have no inkling of what you speak," Bilbo forces out through his laughter and Elrond raised an eyebrow.

"Oh, so you weren't the one who painted that damned moose purple with green polka dots and dyed Thranduil's annoyingly-bright hair black?" Elrond asks pointedly and Bilbo fell off his chair because he was laughing so much.

"I...wouldn't have...done it if...he hadn't...been mean...to...Arwen," the hobbit gasps out through almost painful-sounding laughter but that wasn't the most surprising thing. No, that went to the rumbling chuckle that brought Fili and Kili's attention to Thorin as their uncle put his hand over his face, his shoulders shaking with the chuckles pouring from his lips. "Legolas and Tauriel...thought...it was the...funniest thing ever."

"On second thought," Lindir murmurs, "I'm almost happy it was paint the little nuisances used instead of dye."

"Aw, but you would've looked so pretty," Bilbo snickers as he finally managed to get his laughter under control and return to his seat, head cocked to the side as he watched Thorin, who had just stopped laughing about Thranduil.

Lindir glared at him for a moment before looking towards Thorin and then back to Bilbo, this went on for a couple moments before he rattled out something in Elvish that had Bilbo blushing to the tips of his ears while staring at the table. "Lindir," Elrond admonished as his children glared at him.

"What'd he say?" Thorin asks glancing at the halfling beside him before looking over at the elf beside Elrond.

The Elf Lord cleared his throat, his hand brushing against Lindir's for a moment. "Lindir asked if you were Bilbo's Heart?" he murmurs and Bilbo scoffed, lifting his gaze to Elrond's, raising a golden eyebrow. "He didn't phrase it quite so politely, though."

Bilbo hissed something out in a language no one at the table seemed to know and slid his chair away from the table. Turning on his heel, he stalked out and headed towards the room Elrond had given the company for their stay in Rivendell. "I've never seen him that angry," Kili says staring after the hobbit before the company all glanced at each other and stood from the table.

"Thank you for the meal, Elrond," Thorin bit out before the dwarves quickly left, heading for their room.

*Ready Weapons


	5. Chapter 5

**AN:** I do not own Hobbit

==============New=Chapter=================

Relaxing into the steaming, spring-fed pool in the bathing room attached to their room, Bilbo forced himself to calm down and it would've worked better had his thoughts not kept revolving around what Lindir had asked. Though what he'd said back hadn't been any better, at least he'd said it in a language only he understood, Lindir had said it so that half the people at the table knew what he'd said. He heard it when the dwarves arrived at the room, though he was sure everyone in Rivendell could hear them yelling for him and he gave a small smile. "I'm in the bath," he yelled back which stopped their calling for him and he went back to leaning against the side of the bathing pool. Resting his head back, Bilbo listened to them as they slowly dropped into a conversation, though his ear twitched when he heard someone just outside the filmy material acting as a door.

===============POV=Change=================

Thorin paused outside the gauzy-film thing that separated the room where the company was getting settled for the night and the bathing room. He could sort of make out the small, golden-haired form of the hobbit and shifted a little before clearing his throat. "Master Baggins, may I come in, I need to speak with you?" he asks.

There was the sound of the water moving before the halfling's voice, sounding extremely tired, met his ears, "Just a moment." Thorin watched as the figure through the gauze straightened up a bit and started doing something with his hair before settling back against the side of the bathing pool. "You can come in now, Master Oakenshield." Stepping into the bathing room, Thorin noticed that the hobbit had piled his hair atop his head and because it was still dry, figured that he'd had it down and pooled on the side of the bathing pool while relaxing. The dwarf found himself sort of disappointed that he didn't get to see the other with his hair down and that the hobbit was leaning his head back against the side of the pool, hiding the mark on the back of his neck from sight. "If this is about interrupting dinner, I apologize..."

"You're not the one who should be apologizing," Thorin says interrupting the halfling's words as he moved to where he could see the others face and leant against the wall. "The company and I are more worried about what exactly was said to cause your reaction, as well as what you said after."

The hobbit seemed to deflate, sinking farther down into the water and Thorin saw the tips of his ears and his cheeks go pink. "He said _'Well, isn't that great, the crazy hobbit's heart is the exiled Dwarf King,'_ " the halfling grumbles and Thorin felt his anger start making its way to his face. "What I said was in Greentongue, I said _'At least I have one.'_ Which is considered extremely mean, even more so when you take into account that Lindir is passed his coming of age and still doesn't have a mark."

Thorin froze when he realized how angry the halfling must've been to say something like that, especially since he didn't even know whose mark he held or because the little thing didn't like hurting people's feelings. "Hmm," he breathes before pushing away from the wall, "he'll most likely try to apologize in the morning and you should do so, as well. I have no idea how long the Wizard will want us to stay here for and it'll be even worse if there was a moping elf trying to make amends the whole time."

The hobbit began laughing and Thorin moved towards the doorway to leave when the halfling said something that had him freezing in surprise. "Would you like to join me?" That had been the hobbit's quiet question as he shifted in the water and Thorin stared at the gauzy material in front of him and tried to ignore the rippling noises from the bathing pool. "There's enough room and...never mind, you don't have to."

Thorin turned back just in time to see the hobbit stand and the dwarf's eyes immediately zeroed in on the golden mark on the back of the halfling's neck, breath catching as he read over his name in Khuzdhul. "Might as well," he breathes.

===============POV=Change=================

Bilbo had thought Thorin had left because the dwarf could be scarily quiet when he needed to be and stood to continue his bath when Thorin spoke. His hand immediately clamped to the back of his neck and he dropped back down into the water so fast there was a splash. Looking over his shoulder, he saw Thorin was undressing and turned back around, feeling the heat from his blush as it spread over his face and up to the tips of his ears. "Well you did offer to share," he grumbles to himself as he moved over to the other side of the pool and began running a soapy, wash cloth over his arms and shoulders.

A long groan and the slight rise of the water signaled that Thorin had indeed joined him in the bathing pool. "Probably should've asked before I got in but why is the water blue?" the dwarf asked and Bilbo let out a soft laugh before looking down at the water.

"It's a mix of herbs that the elves use to ease aches and pains," Bilbo answers glancing at the dwarf over his shoulder noticing his eyes were closed as he relaxed into the water, "it also helps in the healing process if you have any wounds."

Bilbo allowed his eyes to travel over the unsuspecting dwarf, intrigued by the muscles, the silver and pink scars that covered his chest, as well as the thick mat of chest hair, and admiring the thick, black tattoos that covered both of Thorin's arms and felt his face turn red before turning back around. "I thought elves had the same healing abilities as dwarves, if not a little more," the dwarf murmurs and Bilbo froze in the middle of scrubbing his chest.

"When used to treat injuries it's only used for the mortally wounded or on the races that aren't as sturdy," the hobbit says as he continued cleaning himself off.

===============POV=Change=================

Thorin had been watching the halfling through cracked eyelids since joining him in the bath. He could admit, if only to himself, that he found the hobbit interesting, had since _before_ he'd seen his mark on the back of the others' neck. When he let his eyes trail down the hobbit's back, over the dragon tattoo and down until they stopped on a thick, pinkish-silver scar that seemed to wrap around his right side, ending about three inches from his spine. Thorin clenched his hands on the edge of the bathing pool to curb the need he felt to run his hands over the halfling's skin, particularly any scars he could find. Gritting his teeth, Thorin began slowly removing his beads, placing them in the ceramic bowl next to the variety of soaps on the side of the bathing pool before slowly unbraiding his hair and removing the leather cuff on his wrist. Once he was done with that, he slid over to the selection of soaps and set about looking for one that didn't smell too flowery. He went into a sneezing fit after taking a tentative sniff at a pale blue one and he could hear Bilbo chuckling quietly. "Try the dark green one," the halfling says and Thorin glances over to see Bilbo looking over his shoulder at him, "most of the others smell like flowers, fruit or spices."

Turning back to the soaps, he eventually found the one Bilbo was talking about and took a small sniff at it, liking the woodsy, campfire smell. "Thanks," he murmurs as he grabs one of the clean cloths on the other side of the soaps and placed both things next to the bowl with his beads in it before sinking below the surface of the water for a couple of minutes. When he was sure his hair and beard were completely wet throughout, he surfaced and pushed his hair back from his face before reaching for the cloth, wetting it, as well. Looking over towards the hobbit, he froze for a second before swallowing audibly and clenched his hands into fists down at his sides below the water. Bilbo had undone his hair while he hadn't been paying attention and was swiftly running his fingers through it to smooth out any tangles. Letting out the breath he'd been holding, Thorin turned his attention back to himself and put a good-sized amount of soap in the palm of his hand before rubbing his hands together, setting to work on scrubbing his chest clean.

The next time Thorin glanced over at Bilbo, the halfling wasn't there and, as he watched, bubbles appeared on the surface of the water before Bilbo rose from below the water, barely causing any ripples along the surface. Thorin's breath caught again as the hobbit began working soap into his hair, having to pull the mass of golden curls over his shoulder to work through it all. The dwarf had to forcibly turn his head to look away, breathing in deeply to calm himself. Having completely scrubbed himself clean, except for his hair, beard and face, Thorin sunk into the water to rinse before cleaning his face. As he began lathering up his beard, he snuck looks at the halfling who was making sure that he'd gotten all of his hair before disappearing back underwater to rinse. Thorin began working the soap into his hair while untangling it, as well and closed his eyes when he pulled a bit too hard, missing the hobbit's reemergence from the water.

===============POV=Change=================

As he rose back to the surface after rinsing out his hair, Bilbo froze when he realized he'd unintentionally turned towards Thorin and he couldn't help but look him over again. Appreciating the clean, bronze skin for a moment until a flash of lighter skin up by the dwarf's head caught his attention and he caught sight of his name, scrawled across Thorin's wrist in Greentongue. Quickly turning back around before the dwarf could notice he was facing him, he checked his hair to see if he'd gotten all the soap out and ducked back underneath the water to rinse it again. _'Could it be Thorin's name on my neck?'_ he wonders as he ran his hands through his hair while still underwater. _'If he saw my mark, could it be why Thorin stayed to bathe with me?'_ Pushing his thoughts back a little, he reemerged from the water, leaning his head back a bit so his hair wasn't in his eyes and moved up the steps, grabbing one of the towels he'd grabbed, knotting it around his waist. The second towel went around his hair so he wasn't dripping water everywhere and glanced behind him to see that the dwarf's eyes were still closed before quickly drying off.

Pulling on the clean clothes he'd brought in with him, Bilbo gave Thorin one last glance over his shoulder before heading for the door. "Enjoy the rest of your bath, Master Oakenshield, I'll send one of your nephews in with a clean set of clothes for you," he says over his shoulder and caught the sound of several sets of feet scurrying away from the doorway to the bathing room. Shaking his head, he slipped through the gauzy material out into the room he was sharing with the dwarves. He raised an eyebrow at how everyone was pretending to be busy with something while looking at him through the corners of their eyes. "Fili, Kili, one of you take your uncle a set of clean clothes, he forgot to take some in with him."

Moving over to his pack, he watched as both of them gathered a set of clothes for Thorin, as well as themselves before disappearing through the gauzy doorway. As Bilbo dug through his pack, he collected his brush, hair ties and the box that held his collection of hoops for his ear before going over to sit with his back to the fire, hoping to dry his hair faster. Opening the box, he looked over the hoops as he undid the towel and began brushing through his hair, familiarizing himself with some of the hoops he'd never seen before. When his eyes landed on the bronze hoops labeled _'Trolls'_ he snickered and picked out three before he picked out four white, three that had warg etched onto them while the last said orc. Bilbo set the hoops in the empty spot at the front and continued dealing with his hair, braiding it into a single, long, thick coil that he let pool on the floor.

Standing, he picked up the box and moved over to the mirror tucked against the wall by the balcony, humming to himself as he began moving the hoops already in his ears around. There was now room for the orc one below the two blue ones that were below the gold before he sighed and grabbed the piercing needle, pressing seven new holes into his ear. Putting the silver one he'd removed back in, he quickly followed with the three white and then the three bronze, ignoring the painful twitch his ear gave as he slid the last hoop through. Bilbo looked over his ear before nodding, replacing the piercing needle back to its place and closed the box, returning it to his bag.

When he looked around the room, he noticed Ori over in the corner closest to the fire with his journal open and staring absently at Dwalin who was deep in discussion with Balin, Oin and Gloin. Bilbo walked over and took a seat beside the young Dwarf, looking over what Ori had been doing before getting too wrapped up in staring at Dwalin. "What are you doing, Ori?" Bilbo asks causing the young Dwarf to startle a bit and make a strangled noise. "Sorry, didn't mean to scare you. What were you concentrating so hard on?"

"N-nothing," Ori murmurs looking down at the journal on his lap. "I was just sketching." The hobbit raised an eyebrow for a moment before looking over at Dwalin, then back to Ori.

"Okay, then," Bilbo says giving him a smile before looking up at the ceiling. "Do dwarves have any courting rituals or practices?"

The young dwarf went red as his hair for a moment before leaning farther back against the wall and glanced around. "It would be better if no one heard us talking about this," he says before turning to a clean page in his journal, ripping a couple free. "I'll write them down if you'll do the same with hobbit's customs when courting."

Bilbo cocked his head to the side in thought before smiling and saying, "Yeah, I can do that." Ori handed the hobbit one of the pieces of paper and a piece of charcoal. As he began writing out the list Ori had wanted, Bilbo drew little pictures of the processes along the sides of the list. His eyes flicked upward when Thorin stalked out of the bathing room amidst chuckles from Fili and Kili, causing Bilbo to raise an eyebrow before going back to his writing and drawing. As he finished up the list, he had to stifle a yawn before glancing out the balcony doors to where Thorin was sitting, smoking his pipe. "Here you go, Ori," he says passing the piece of paper to the dwarf who took it with a bright smile and put it at the back of his journal. "Can I have another piece of paper?" Ori nodded, handing him another blank sheet of paper and nodded his head to him. "Thanks, Ori, have a goodnight."

"You as well, Master Baggins," the young dwarf murmurs before continuing on with his list. "I'll get this to you in the morning."

Standing up, Bilbo stretched before nodding to Ori again and walked over to the pile of pillows and blankets he'd liberated from the surrounding guest rooms to make himself a comfortable little nest on the edge of the room. Moans and groans from the bathing room had Bilbo diving under his pile of blankets and shoving a pillow over his head to drown out the noises. "Why, why, why must my hearing be sharper than most?" he growls pressing the pillows on either side of his head even harder against his ears, ignoring the pain that shot through his left one. When the pillows continued to not be enough, he shot out of the pile and rushed out onto the balcony, hopping up onto the railing to sit.

Trying to figure out something else to concentrate his enhanced hearing on, he began glancing around and noticed Elladan and Elrohir on the patio below with their heads together, speaking in quiet whispers. _'They're planning something,'_ he thinks, happy that his hearing had returned to normal. _'Normally I don't have that much of a problem controlling my senses.'_ Moving so he was in a more comfortable position on the railing, Bilbo put his legs on either side of the railing and set the parchment on the railing between his legs. "Maybe it's because I haven't left the Shire since I returned from Rivendell after the Fell Winter," Bilbo murmurs as he begins writing out the Greentongue alphabet, putting the Westron translation beneath each figure, placing his pipe between his lips. Lighting it, he took a quick breath of his Longbottom Leaf and glanced up at the sky. _'Although, it could be a reaction to my first run in with orcs and wargs in a while.'_ Bilbo hummed in agreement with that thought as he continued working on what he was doing, writing down a few examples on how to translate Greentongue into Westron by using the names of the company's members and leaving his own out.

Once he was done, Bilbo placed the piece of charcoal down and laid back on the railing to stare up at the stars, smoking his pipe. Closing his eyes, his thoughts turned to what to do about his name being on Thorin's wrist and wondering whether or not Thorin's name was on the back of his neck. "What're you doing out here, Bilbo?" he heard Fili ask and the Hobbit opened his eyes, glancing at the two dwarrows watching him from beside the railing.

"I have extremely good hearing, you know," Bilbo murmurs and watched as the two of them turned bright red before sitting up. Picking up the sheet of paper that he'd been writing on, he held it out to them. "It's okay, you can make it up to me by putting this somewhere your uncle will see it."

Kili swiped it before Fili could grab it and looked it over before glancing back at Bilbo. "You're not disgusted by our relationship?" he asks and the halfling shook his head, watching them with confused eyes.

"Some think it's odd or disgusting that we're one another's One," Fili whispers causing Bilbo to make an angry noise in the back of his throat and slipped off the railing so he was standing in front of them.

"Are your marks each other?" Bilbo asks motioning to their banded wrists and they both nodded. "Then I have no problem with it."

The two of them smiled at him before Kili handed the paper over to Fili who took a look at what was on it. "Uncle Thorin's mark is a series of these symbols," Fili murmured peering at Bilbo through his lashes. "You saw it, didn't you?"

"Yeah and I'm sure he got a peek at mine, as well," the hobbit says before a yawn made itself known and he covered his mouth. "Well, I'm tired, I'll see the two of you in the morning."

"Goodnight, Mr. Boggins," the two of them yell together and Bilbo gives them a small, tired smile over his shoulder before making his way over to his pile and falling onto it, pulling a couple of blankets over him.

===============Time===Skip=================

Thorin was sitting on the balcony staring at the sheet of paper he'd knicked from Fili and Kili last night, looking over the Greentongue letters and translations. _'Of course, when I asked where and how they'd gotten the page, they told me Bilbo had made a translation page for Ori so he could translate a book in the library today,'_ he thought as he quickly unlaced the leather cuff around his right wrist, _'so I should probably get this done before everyone wakes up.'_ Quickly scratching out the series of symbols from his wrist onto the piece of scrap paper he'd grabbed from the desk in the room. Thorin finished copying down his mark before pulling his cuff back on and slowly began translating his mark from Greentongue to Westron.

As he stared down at the newly translated name, Thorin heard the first stirrings of the company and quickly crumpled the scrap paper before tossing it into the water fountain below the balcony. Slipping back into the room, he placed the translation sheet back on top of Fili's bag and sat down on his bedroll, staring across the room at the nest of bedding five feet from the fireplace. Thorin was careful to keep his face set in its normal, brooding stare and drummed his fingers on his knee. He was actually debating with himself on whether or not he wanted Bilbo to continue on with the quest at all now that he knew the halfling was his One. _'If he continues on with us, I'll be able to keep an eye on him, maybe even court him a little but he could get hurt or die and I know I wouldn't be able to handle that well,'_ his thoughts come to a screeching halt as Bilbo sat up from his nest, stretching.

The hobbit had lost his shirt sometime last night and Thorin's eyes slid down the pale, lightly muscled chest, over a slashing scar from his left shoulder to just under his right arm. As his eyes moved farther down, Thorin's gaze stopped on the scar that curved around his right side, it spanned the entire right side of Bilbo's stomach and came to a stop an inch past his navel. Fury welled up in Thorin's chest at the proof that his One had survived battle with orcs and wargs, had even seen Azog. Knowing that he needed to make a choice about whether or not he wanted the hobbit to finish the quest, which could lead him into even more danger than he'd already been in, Thorin knocked the back of his head against the wall behind him.

Leaning his head back, Thorin closed his eyes and tried to get the rage he was feeling to calm, turning his thoughts to something else. _'Preparations for the rest of the journey need to be made, supplies gathered.'_ Thorin cracked his eyes open to see the halfling pulling on a shirt and caught sight of the seven new hoops in his ear before glancing around at the waking Dwarves. "Gandalf told me that we'd be here for a week before moving on," he says when he realized everyone was awake enough to hear and understand him. "So, we're going to rest and gather supplies while here."

"Aw, but Master Boggins was going to show us where the sparring area was before showing Ori to the library," Fili and Kili whine and Thorin felt his lips twitch with a smirk before glancing at Dwalin.

"That's fine, the two of you can resume your spars with Dwalin," Thorin says glancing over at Bilbo. "If you don't mind showing him there, as well?"

The halfling had taken a seat among his nest and was fixing his braid when Thorin had looked over to him. "I don't mind," he murmurs playing with a particularly stubborn curl that kept slipping from the braid no matter what he did. Sighing, he gave up and left the curl alone to frame the right side of his face before glancing around. "I'll help Bofur with breakfast, first."

===============POV=Change=================

Moving over to the fireplace where Bofur was just starting to get breakfast going, Bilbo sat down and began helping the toy maker prepare the meal. He was busy cutting up the dried fruits Bofur had handed over so he could deal with boiling water. "Did you sleep well, Bofur?" he asks while the dwarf poured oatmeal into the boiling water in the pot he'd just pulled off the fire.

"Well enough, I suppose," Bofur murmurs stirring in the fruit Bilbo handed back to him. "How about you and your nest, is that a Hobbit thing?"

Bilbo hummed and ran a hand over his braid before playing with the loose curl. "Slept really good and no, adult Hobbits normally don't," he breathes ignoring the _'But Dragons do,'_ that went through his thoughts. _'I need to tell them.'_ The dwarf looked confused and Bilbo sighed, rubbing the side of his neck. "I only do it when I don't feel comfortable and I haven't felt comfortable in Rivendell since the death of my parents." _'Since Elrond learned of what I am. I need to tell them and it would be better if it was sooner rather than later.'_

The confused look was quickly replaced by understanding and Bofur nodded as he continued stirring the thickening oatmeal. "Sounds like what happened after Erebor was lost, although most dwarves were uncomfortable in unfamiliar places before that," the dwarf says as he begins dividing the pot of oatmeal into bowls and Bilbo stood up to go pass them out.

Settling down on one of the pillows in his pile, the halfling started eating, trying not to laugh as Fili and Kili began stealing bites out of each others bowls. Bilbo finally lost it when Kili got annoyed because Fili kept moving his bowl out of reach and put a small spoonful of oatmeal on his brother's nose. "Really, Kee?" Fili growls wiping it off his nose and giving his brother an amused glare before turning back to his food.

Bilbo rolled his eyes as the two began bickering back and forth, tuning out what they were saying as he finished with his bowl. Noticing that Ori and Dwalin were also finished, he turned his attention back to the brothers and chuckled when he saw they were done, too, though it looked like Kili had some in his hair. "Can we head off towards the sparring area now?" Dwalin rumbles glaring at the two smirking princes and the hobbit nods, standing to hand his bowl off to Bombur who had already begun washing some of the others bowls.

After showing Dwalin, Fili and Kili to the sparring area, Bilbo led Ori to the library and saw Elrond leaving it with a familiar, leather bound book. "I'll follow you in a moment," Bilbo murmurs. "I need to speak with Elrond." Ori nodded before heading into the library and Bilbo turned to follow Elrond, calling out, "Lord Elrond, may I speak to you?"

The Elf Lord froze for a moment before turning towards him and gave him a small smile, slipping the book into his sleeve. "Of course, Mister Baggins," he breathes clasping his hands.

"I wanted to apologize for dinner last night," the hobbit says glancing up at the Elf through his lashes, making sure he looked suitably apologetic. "And I wondered if you'd know where Lindir might be?"

Elrond stared down at him for a moment before glancing down the hall. "There's nothing to apologize for Bilbo," he whispers, "and Lindir is in the library." The halfling turned to head back to the library and Elrond placed his hand on the smaller being's shoulder. "I was going to give Thorin the book about Golden Dragons, do you have any problems with that?"

Looking at the Elf over his shoulder, Bilbo forced himself not to growl at him and nodded. "That may be easier than trying to tell him," the hobbit breathes before turning away and heading into the library. He went over to the table where Ori was sitting to make sure the dwarf knew he was in the library before heading off into the shelves to find Lindir.

===============POV=Change=================

Out in the gardens sitting on a bench near the river, Thorin was staring into the water, smoking his pipe. He was having a hard time trying to decide whether or not he should allow Bilbo to continue on the quest, he had a feeling the halfling would not enjoy being left behind, at all. _'Hell, he might even follow if I tried to leave him here,'_ he thought as he blew out a large smoke ring and ran his fingers over the band hiding his mate mark.

The sound of footsteps behind him broke him out of his thoughts and he glanced over his shoulder to see Elrond walking towards him. "I hope I am not disturbing you, Master Oakenshield," the elf murmurs and Thorin sighed, letting his eyes drop closed for a few seconds before letting them open and shook his head. "First off, I would like to apologize for how Lindir acted last night at dinner, he normally isn't like that."

The dwarf stared at him for a moment, pipe stuck between his teeth before removing it to tap out it out against the stone rail bordering the river and released a plume of smoke. "Apology accepted," he says placing his pipe back into its place in his coat before looking over at him and inclined his head before standing.

"One more thing," the elf adds before pulling a small, leather bound book from the sleeve of his robe. "I thought you should read this, Master Baggins does, as well, because it's a subject he is uncomfortable discussing."

Taking the book the elf was holding out to him, Thorin glanced at the cover before raising an eyebrow at Elrond. "Why would my burglar be uncomfortable discussing an old legend?" he questions and Elrond sighed, shaking his head.

"Some legends stem from fact, Master Oakenshield," Elrond answers cryptically before crossing his arms over his chest. "Just read the book and you'll understand."

The elf left quickly and disappeared farther into the gardens, causing Thorin to glance down at the book with curiosity. Opening it to the first page, he moved over to sit in the shadows at the base of a rather large tree and began reading.

===============POV=Change=================

Fili and Kili noticed the spaced-out, far-away gaze in the hobbit's eyes at lunch time. Around the same time, they also realized that they hadn't seen a trace of their uncle since they'd left the room this morning. Wondering what could be so interesting that he'd miss lunch, they decided to leave it be when Bilbo's distinct lack of eating caught their attention and caused them to start worrying. "Master Boggins," Kili murmurs dropping down to sit on the halfling's left as Fili did the same on the right, "are you okay?"

The halfling seemed to snap out of his thoughts, the far-away look left his eyes and he shook his head before raising a questioning eyebrow at the brothers. "You haven't touched lunch and you've been looking at the same spot for almost an hour," Fili grumbles flicking one of his brother's braids as he puts an arm over the hobbit's shoulders.

Understanding seemed to dawn in the smaller being's eyes and the brother let out relieved sighs before the halfling answered. "I'm fine, boys," he breathes running a hand over the back of his neck, "just got a little lost in my thoughts, I guess."

The Durin brothers just leaned more heavily against each other, keeping an eye on the hobbit who began picking at his food as they continued eating. When they were done, they washed out their bowls and patted Bilbo's head before heading back to the practice area, followed by everyone but the hobbit.

===============POV=Change=================

Bilbo sat in the empty room for about ten minutes, eating slowly and lost in his thoughts, wanting to get everything straight before Thorin came back yelling about him being a dragon. Standing up, he went over to where Bifur had been washing bowls and cleaned his own before looking around the room. He took a deep breath before gathering up all the dirty clothes he could find and lugged the large pile into the bathing room so he could begin washing them.

Bilbo set up a clothesline of sorts out on the balcony so he could hang the clean clothes up to dry and methodically began scrubbing clothes clean, all the while organizing his thoughts. "What if he can't accept this?" he breathes rubbing the bar of soap he'd knicked from the laundry room harder over a particularly deep-set stain in someone's shirt. _'What if he can?'_ at that thought the hobbit paused in his actions for a moment before getting back to work. "That's rather far-fetched." Bilbo settled into the routine of washing and he was soon done, moving everything out to hang from the line to dry.

Settling onto the railing of the balcony, he lit his pipe and forced himself to calm down so he could think, watching the world around him. "Even if he can't handle it, I made my decision to help them get their home back and I won't go back on that," he breathes playing with the loose curl beside his face. "Maybe, he'll get used to the idea during the journey." Nodding to himself, Bilbo spent the rest of the time before he started dinner, relaxing on the balcony rail and staring down at an interesting vine that clung to it. When it became close to the time he wanted to start dinner, Bilbo made his way off the balcony and towards the kitchen to gather ingredients.

He wasn't surprised when he returned and no one was back yet. Cutting up the venison he'd found in the kitchen into half-inch cubes and tossing them into the cookpot with some minced garlic and slivered onions, as well as a touch of salt and pepper. While the meat was browning, Bilbo worked on cutting up carrots and potatoes, occasionally stirring the meat cooking in the pot so it didn't burn. Adding in the potatoes and carrots, he poured in the pitcher of water he'd brought back, as well, putting the pot back over the fire. The hobbit settled against the wall beside the fire and began sketching as a way to pass time between stirring the cooking food, waiting for the others to come back. He paused in what he was doing when he heard footsteps outside the door and stirred dinner before going back to his sketch.

===============POV=Change=================

Arriving outside the room the company was staying in, Thorin's left hand clenched around the book he still held and steeled himself before going in. He stopped just inside when he noticed Bilbo was the only person inside and would've stepped back out if the halfling hadn't glanced up at him, pausing whatever he'd been doing to stir the pot over the fire. Not wanting the hobbit to feel hurt if he were to leave again, Thorin shut the door behind him and moved over to take a seat a few feet from the hobbit.

Tension began gathering thick in the air between them and Bilbo placed his sketch beside him, moving to stand. Thorin's hand shot out as the halfling went to walk passed him, looking up at him and noticing that Bilbo wouldn't look at him, keeping his eyes averted from his. "It's true then?" he questioned and the hobbit looked at him through the corner of his eye before dropping his eyes back to the floor, nodding. "Why wouldn't you tell me yourself, why did I have to get a book from Elrond?"

"I don't like talking about it," Bilbo mutters trying to pull his arm out of the dwarf's grip. "It was just another way I was different back in the Shire. And if I had tried to tell you, how would you have reacted?"

Thorin froze for a moment before standing up, keeping his hold on the halfling's wrist and pulled the pot off the fire, it was mostly done anyway. Leading Bilbo out onto the balcony so they could talk without being interrupted when everyone came back, he sat against the wall and pulled the hobbit down to sit beside him. "I'll admit," he breathes running a hand through his hair, "if you had gone straight to the _'I'm a dragon,'_ part, I probably would've lost my temper and started yelling, probably would've argued about you coming with us." Bilbo huffed, moving to try and get his wrist free, making Thorin readjust his grip before making sure he wasn't hurting the halfling. "Did you have Elrond give me the book because you didn't know how to explain or thought you'd make a mistake in trying to explain?"

"Umm, I didn't tell Elrond to give it to you," Bilbo says quietly playing with the hoops in his ear. "He was going to give it to you, even if I'd told him not to, because the elf can't help but meddle."

Confused by the statement, Thorin turned his gaze to the hobbit and raised an eyebrow. "He told me that he wanted me to read it, that you'd want me to read it, as well," the dwarf murmurs rubbing his thumb over Bilbo's wrist and the halfling's breathing hitched before Thorin felt his pulse speed up.

"I told him that it would probably be easier for you to read it than for me to try and explain," Bilbo gasps renewing his efforts to get his arm free of Thorin's grip and a small smile flitted over the dwarf's face for a moment.

Removing his hand from his burglar's wrist, the dwarf got a thoughtful look on his face as he watched him rub the back of his neck. "Would you have told me when you figured out that my name is on the back of your neck?" he asks and Bilbo paused in rubbing his neck to glance at him before tracing the slightly raised runes with a finger.

"Yes," he answers playing with the curl that hung beside his face, "if I had ever figured out how to read it."

They sat in silence for a couple of minutes before Thorin closed his eyes and leant his head back. "Would you allow me to court you?" the dwarrow inquires opening his eyes to glance at Bilbo.

The halfling went still for a moment, his golden eyes wide with shock as he turned his gaze to Thorin before he heard the door to the room open, the others returning from wherever they'd been. "Yes, Master Oakenshield, I would like that very much," he breathes and the dwarf gave him a small smile, brushing his knuckles against Bilbo's cheek before standing, offering his hand to help the hobbit up, as well.

After helping him up, Thorin cupped the halfling's cheek for a moment, marveling at the soft skin under his calloused fingers. "Have a good evening, Master Baggins," he murmurs as he leaned his head down to press their foreheads together before pulling away from him and heading into the room.

===============POV=Change=================

Bilbo stayed on the balcony for a moment, completely surprised by Thorin's actions and lifted his hand to his cheek to brush over where the dwarf had touched, still able to feel the calloused touch. "Yavanna," he breathes as his face went pink, all the way up to the tips of his ears and running his fingers down his burning cheek. He giggled a bit under his breath, feeling lighthearted for the time being as he watched the sun start to sink below the horizon and closed his eyes as his cheek tingled where Thorin had touched.

A cough brought him out of his musings and he turned to see Fili and Kili standing a little away from him, watching him with raised eyebrows. "You're acting awfully weird, Bilbo," Fili murmurs and the blush on the halfling's face grew darker before he took a deep breath, forcing himself to calm down. "Uncle says he has something to tell us so we came out to get you."

The halfling nodded, just the slightest tint of pink left in his cheeks as he steps around the two dwarves to head inside and took a seat near his things. Glancing at Thorin for a moment, he quickly looked away when he noticed that the dwarf king was watching him and the blush returned to his cheeks. Bilbo heard the quiet chuckle from the dwarf and turned back to raise an eyebrow at him, Thorin returned the gesture, raising one of his own eyebrows at the blush that was steadily growing on the hobbit's face. "Is there something the matter, Master Baggins?" Balin asks as he surreptitiously glanced between Bilbo and Thorin, having the feeling that something had changed while he and the others had been gone.

"N-No," Bilbo answers shaking his head at Balin's question, "everything's fine, Master Balin."

The old dwarf didn't look convinced as he turned the questioning look on Thorin who stared back at him with a serene gaze as he put the cookpot back over the flames before taking a seat on his bedroll. "Whatever is going on between Thorin and Master Baggins aside," Dwalin murmurs from his place leant back against the wall across from the fire. "I'd like to hear about what Thorin wanted all of us in here for?"

Thorin turned away from studying his hobbit and took the leather-bound book Elrond had given him out of his coat, tossing it to Balin. The white-haired dwarf caught it, sitting back against the wall and opened it up to a dog-eared page, eyes widening before glancing over at the hobbit, who'd gone pale around the edges. "Impossible, they were wiped out by Sauron before the war," he murmurs turning his gaze to Thorin who was studying Bilbo.

Dwalin looked over his brother's arm to see what the hell was going on and made a faint noise of surprise as he looked over the drawing that was a mirror-image of the tattoo on Bilbo's back. While he was reading, the other dwarves, other than Thorin, Fili, Kili and Ori, made their way over to where Balin and his brother were sitting. "Do you think it has something to do with Bilbo being a dragon?" Ori suddenly questions the two Durin heirs sitting by him, reading what he was writing over his shoulder. The two of them glanced at each other and shrugged, listening as the rest of the room went quiet.

"What?" Dori squawks glancing at the three dwarrows who were sitting close to the fire before glancing at the halfling that was also sitting by the fire, stirring the stew that was in the cookpot.

The two Durin brothers and Ori looked over at the group of older dwarves with confused looks on their faces. Fili cocked his head to the side at the surprised looks on everyone's faces, except Bombur's, before softly elbowing Kili in the ribs. "Mother always told us the story of the golden dragons that used to protect Middle Earth from evil when we were younger, it's her favorite," Kili mumbles before leaning his head on his brother's shoulder, playing with the hand Fili had placed on the floor between their knees.

"The three of us figured it out when we saw the golden tattoo on his back that first morning at Bag End," Ori says staring at his brothers who were looking like they wanted to pull him as far away from the hobbit as they could get him. "The rest of you seemed more interested and surprised by the marking on the back of his neck."

The youngest Ri brother watched as realization dawned in Nori's eyes before he elbowed Dori to get him to stop with the mothering, over-protectiveness that had him wanting to get Ori away from Bilbo. "Interesting," Thorin murmurs as he continued playing with the piece of metal he'd been messing with since he'd tossed the book to Balin. "If you all don't stop looking at my mate like that I'm going to start knocking your heads together."

The hobbit pulled the cookpot off the fire and began ladling the stew into two bowls, taking one over to Thorin before sliding down the wall to sit beside him. Most of the dwarves heeded Thorin's words and looked away from Bilbo, breaking away from each other to quietly discuss the newest information about their burglar. "Why didn't Master Baggins tell us this to begin with?" Dori grumbled as everyone made their way towards the pot to get something to eat.

"Probably because of our problems with Smaug," Bombur murmurs before taking a seat near the fire. The large dwarf rolled his eyes at the way all the others were acting, having realized awhile back that Bilbo wasn't like the other hobbits he'd met during the many trips he and his family had made from Ered Luin to Bree for trade. Most hobbits were immediately distrustful of the other races, except the few families that regularly had dealings with the people of Bree or the bounders. Then, there were the odd times when Bilbo's pupils would change shape like when they stared out into the darkness around camp.

Bofur glanced at his brother as he took a seat beside him, happily digging into the stew that Bilbo had made for dinner. "Or, he thought it would make us distrustful of him," he added before continuing to eat his food.

That was the last anyone said on the subject as they became more interested in eating than discussing the secret Bilbo had been keeping from them. Finishing what was left in his bowl, the halfling stood from his seat beside Thorin and cleaned out his bowl before heading out onto the balcony. As he sat down with his legs slung over the railing, Bilbo pulled his pipe out of his coat and stuck it between his teeth before lighting it with a match. He took a deep breath, holding it for a couple of minutes before releasing the smoke out through his nose and stared at the lanterns lining the paths through the garden below. "May I have a light?" Fili asks as he and Kili suddenly appeared, causing Bilbo to jump a bit, as they'd both been exceptionally quiet. They took seats on the railing on either side of him and the halfling tapped an ember from inside his pipe onto the palm of his hand before placing it into Fili's pipe. "Well, that answers one of my questions."

Pausing in what he was doing, Bilbo glanced at the blond prince out the corner of his eye and cocked a questioning eyebrow. "He was going to ask if fire bothered you," Kili murmurs as he begins doing maintenance on his bow, currently working on repairing the string.

The hobbit snickered, blowing smoke out his nose again and took his pipe from between his teeth. "No, for the most part," he breathes leaning his head back to stare up at the sky. "I know that regular fire doesn't hurt. The books I've read said that I could be injured by another dragon's fire, especially in this form and it would hurt in my dragon one but not nearly as much."

They both were staring at him in surprise and he laughed quietly before snuffing out the embers in his pipe, tapping them out into the fountain below. Bilbo placed the pipe back into his coat and glanced over his shoulder when he heard footsteps behind them to see the rest of the company step out onto the balcony. Dori and Nori followed Ori as the younger Ri brother continued over to join the two brothers and the hobbit on the balcony railing, the middle brother obviously trying to play buffer for Dori's worry. "Will you please explain to Dori that you're not going to hurt any of us?" Ori pleads in an almost whiny voice and Bilbo raised an eyebrow at the older dwarf who was giving his youngest brother a look.

"I will not, purposefully, hurt any of you," the hobbit says as he stretches his arms over his head and leans back to pop his spine, letting out a contented noise when it popped. "Thorin, how far along in that book are you?"

The blue-eyed dwarf looked away from his conversation with Balin, Dwalin, Oin and Gloin by the balcony doors to his halfling, who was watching him from over his shoulder. Removing his pipe from between his teeth, he let out a lungful of smoke before murmuring, "I read through the whole thing, it's why I missed lunch." Seeing the mischievous smirk that lifted the corners of Bilbo's mouth, he raised an eyebrow. "Why do you ask?"

Bilbo gave a soft giggle before slipping off the railing towards the garden below and felt his form shift, spreading his wings out to catch the wind. Pumping the large appendages up and down, the hobbit turned dragon rose up into the air before doing a roll, turning back towards the balcony to see that all of the dwarves were staring at him. Thorin eyed the large, golden dragon in surprise as he hovered about twenty feet from the balcony and then let out a loud rumble that sounded like a chuckle. "You said you read the entire book, my King, why so surprised?" he asks gliding through the air to hover by the balcony and Thorin stared into large golden eyes filled with playfulness before moving to stand by the railing.

Reaching a hand out, the royal dwarf touched the scales in the center of the dragon's muzzle and Bilbo pressed into his touch, a purr-like rumble vibrating through the air. "The book said it was rare to have both forms," Thorin murmurs as he continued to pet the hovering dragon. Bilbo turned his head so he was watching him with a single, large, golden eye and the dwarf could run his fingers over the scales that ran along the side of his muzzle. "That it was more common to have aspects of a Dragon, like wings or tail and the ability to manipulate Dragonfire."

There was a low hum from the dragon before the halfling shifted back, sitting on the railing facing Thorin who was still cupping his cheek and a yawn fell from the hobbit's lips. "Shifting back and forth so fast can make me tired," he says before another yawn made itself known causing the dwarf king to pull his hand away and move so that Bilbo could head inside. "Goodnight everyone, I'll see you in the morning."


	6. Chapter 6

Their fifth, and last, full day in Rivendell dawned cool, clear and bright, though the dwarven company, save Thorin, and their hobbit slept through it. The dwarf king sat on his bedroll next to the nest where his hobbit slept and hummed quietly as he mentally went over the to-do list he and the company had finished up with last night. He was trying to figure out if they'd missed something so that when the time came to leave, they had everything and wouldn't forget anything.

As he thought, Thorin's fingers made their way up to the new gold and glass bead wound into the intricate courtship braid that Bilbo had put in his hair the night before. It had been interesting, watching as the small being melted sand in the palm of his hand from across the room, although it had annoyed him when his nephew's moved to block his view. The making of courtship beads was normally done when the one you were courting wasn't around so the finished piece would be a surprise. Thorin couldn't exactly be angry with them, once he'd found out, anyway. Though the finished bead that Bilbo had presented to him had definitely been a surprise because he hadn't known that that was what he was making. Bilbo shifted in his nest just enough that his face could be seen pressed into his pillow and the dwarf smiled at the peaceful look on his face. Thorin's own courting braid lying across the hobbit's face and the silver bead, the dwarf had carried with him since he came of age, sparkled as the sunlight hit it.

Watching his little mate sleep, he was surprised when he felt the mark on the wrist opposite Bilbo's flare briefly with pain before becoming dormant once again. It had been almost a hundred years since the last time he'd felt anything from his first mark, the mark he had refused to acknowledge since Smaug attacked Erebor. _'I should ask Bilbo if he also has a second mark?'_ He's barely even had the thought when the hobbit hmmed in his sleep, disappearing back underneath the mound of covers over him as one of his small hands reached out to grasp Thorin's, which he'd placed between them. It was his left hand, the one he normally kept gloved and Thorin assumed that he now knew why as the golden Elven glyphs shone up at him from the back of his mate's hand. When a contented purr came from the halfling beneath the blankets, Thorin felt a small smile pull at the corners of his lips as he closed his hand around the smaller one in his grasp, concealing the other mark from view. Though the golden dragons of old didn't covet precious metals, they did covet their mates and liked to be close to them. Which had the dwarf wondering why Bilbo kept it covered and why he wasn't with the pompous, blond, after all, he had met him first, though from what he'd heard their first night in Rivendell, the two didn't seem to get along.

A knock on the door startled the other dwarves, and Bilbo, awake, causing Thorin's smile to slip off his face as he let go of his Hobbit's hand to go open the door. He almost glared when he saw that it was Gandalf, who they hadn't seen but a handful of times since they'd arrived in Rivendell, he always seemed more interested in speaking with the Elf Lord. "Lord Elrond has invited us to dinner, we also need to meet with him afterward, be sure to bring your map and you may bring two others if you wish," he says before disappearing back down the hall, though he must've remembered something else because he was back seconds later. "And you might want to have everything ready to leave quickly afterward."

"Why couldn't he wait until later to tell you that, instead of waking all of us up?" Bilbo growls from where he'd sat up and leant against the wall, his sleep shirt open enough to reveal both the scar across his chest and the one on his stomach.

Thorin chuckled before moving back over to his bedroll and taking a seat, taking Bilbo's hand in his as the others began getting ready for the day. "He probably thought we were already up," he murmurs as he interlocked his and Bilbo's fingers, leaning over to press his forehead against his. "We normally would be by this time."

The hobbit made an annoyed noise and kissed Thorin on the cheek before standing from his spot to go to his pack, gathering clothes so he could get dressed in the bathing room. "It's already around noon," Fili says as he took a seat against the wall beside Thorin and the older dwarf gave a small shrug of his shoulders as he began to play with the glass bead in his hair again. "So, should Kili and I start calling him Aunt Bilbo?"

Thorin gave his nephew a raised eyebrow before shaking his head, a soft snicker leaving his lips. "If the two of you think you can get away with it," he chuckles before Kili dropped down to sit beside his brother with two plates full of the lunch Bofur and Bombur had managed to throw together in the last ten minutes. The older Durin was about to stand to go get himself and Bilbo something when the hobbit reappeared from the bathing room, taking the two plates Bofur held out to him. Bringing the plates over, Bilbo handed him one before taking a seat next to him and began eating.

"So, Aunt Bilbo, how did you sleep?" Kili asks conversationally and the halfling stilled, looking at the youngest dwarf prince through the corner of his eye.

Bilbo let out a breathy chuckle and turned his attention back to his food. "I slept very well, Kili, though I kept hearing some strange noises last night from the balcony," he says before taking a bite of the sausage on his plate, ignoring the blushes that rose over both boys' faces. Thorin almost choked on a mouthful of food and barely kept himself from laughing at his nephews, quickly covering it with a cough that neither of the boys believed for a second. "I don't mind if you decide to call me that, though."

Once both boys had heard the Hobbit give them permission to call him aunt, the two became a little less red in the face, Thorin and Bilbo both heard it when Fili growled, "Damn dragon hearing to the depths of Mandos."

The hobbit let out a startled laugh and placed his plate in his lap to try stifling the sound but it didn't seem to be working out that way. "Unfortunately, I think I would have heard the two of you, even if I didn't have dragon hearing," he snickers through his fingers. "Hobbit hearing is said to be even better than an Elf's, though I don't think anyone has ever tested that theory."

Both of his nephews had gone back to being redder in the face than Gloin's hair and Thorin let out a small chuckle, easily covering it up by clearing his throat. "I don't know how well Elf hearing truly is if a fauntling can sneak up on a sleeping Elf King and dye his hair," Kili says through a mouthful of egg as he jabbed his brother in the ribs with his elbow when Fili stole the last piece of sausage off his plate.

"Yes, well, the blond idiot was extremely tired, apparently," Bilbo murmurs taking a sip of his tea while Thorin snickers at the reminder of what his mate did to Thranduil. At the thought of the elf, Thorin couldn't stop his eyes dropping to the now-gloved hand for a brief moment before he wrapped his fingers around Bilbo's gloved hand. "Though, now that you mention it, I do know where Elladan and Elrohir take their midday naps, maybe I should..."

"Don't," Thorin breathes before chuckling at the face Bilbo made at him. "If you do that, then we have to worry about them pranking you back and you promised Elrond that you wouldn't."

The Hobbit hummed quietly before shrugging and took another sip of his tea. "I was just going to see if they could hear me," he says with an innocent look on his face and it probably would've worked if Thorin hadn't helped his sister raise her sons.

"That look doesn't work on him," Fili snickers as he finished eating, getting up to take his and Kili's plates over to Bifur who was doing the dishes.

The innocent look disappeared from his face once Bilbo realized that it wasn't flying with Thorin and smirked as he stood up, taking his plate over to Bifur, as well. "I have a letter to send," he hums as he came back over to where Thorin and his nephews were sitting, giving his mate a kiss on the forehead before heading out of the room, whistling to himself.

"He's definitely up to something," Balin chuckles as he opened up a book he'd been reading the night before and catching Thorin's attention. "He has the same look Fili and Kili get when you and Dis have told them not to do something that they're going to anyway."

Dwalin coughed as he continued sharpening weapons from his seat next to his brother and hid a smirk behind his hand as he paused in what he was doing. "Unfortunately, Thorin," he says after getting the smirk to disappear from his lips, "I have to agree with my brother, your One is up to something."

A feeling of unease crawled over Thorin's skin and he gave a nod, having had the same feeling when Bilbo had come over to him before leaving the room. "Yes, well," he murmurs before leaping up onto his feet and running out of the room to follow his mate, ignoring the chuckles that followed him.

He ran into Arwen as she exited a room and she cocked her head at the worried look on his face before a small smile graced her features when she saw the glass bead in his hair. "Are you okay, Lord Thorin?" she asks as she began walking beside him and he glanced at her through the corner of his eye.

"If Bilbo were going to prank your brothers..." he begins and she let out a quiet laugh staring at him with amusement shining in her soft, lavender eyes.

"Don't worry, they'd sooner believe it was me than think it was Bilbo," she murmurs before turning down a side hallway, causing Thorin to pause where he'd been about to head in the opposite direction. "Bilbo handed me a letter to send to our friend, Legolas, and said something about checking to see if my brothers were taking their nap in their normal spot in the garden." Thorin raised an eyebrow at the fact that she hadn't even turned to see him paused in the hallway before taking off towards the garden, never seeing the small smirk on her face as she continued towards her destination. "Sorry, Thorin, hope you can forgive me for sending you in the wrong direction."

===============POV=Change=================

Bilbo silently made his way through the twins' room, able to see the two of them curled up together on their hammock out on the balcony and tried to keep the smirk off his lips, slipping through the doors. Neither of them even twitched as he cautiously padded over to them, steps making no sound and began planning out what he should do to them. Noticing that they had their long, long hair hanging off of either side of the hammock, he smirked and slid under it, beginning a very complicated braided knot that would take forever for them to remove. Once done, he rolled out from under the hammock and took a look at the end result, knowing that the distinct lack of paint would make it so the twins wouldn't suspect him.

He quickly made his way out of their room after checking the time and knew it was close to the time that they normally woke up. Running out into the garden, he took a seat on a stone bench in one of the hidden alcoves meant for privacy and lifted his hand up to about chest height, pushing some of his inner fire out to pool in his palm. Bilbo was only sitting there for fifteen minutes, playing with his magic, when he heard Thorin walk passed where he was hidden, grumbling under his breath about lying, female Elves and let out a quiet laugh. Apparently, that was enough to catch his mate's attention and bring him back in the direction of the alcove, though it wouldn't help him in finding the entrance. Standing from his seat, the Hobbit made his way over to where the thick vines hiding him from view split just a bit and reached through, grabbing Thorin by the collar before pulling him through. "Looking for me, Thorin?" he asks with an innocent smile as he stepped back from his mate to retake his seat on the bench, patting the spot next to him for the other to sit beside him.

"Have you been here the entire time?" he asks and Bilbo raised an eyebrow at him before he gave a shrug, lifting his hand back up to play with his fire. "Bilbo, did you prank Elladan and Elrohir?"

"Maybe," he breathes releasing the flame in his palm before turning to look back up at Thorin who was giving him an inscrutable look. "Not that they'll know it was me, almost all of my pranks deal in paint or dye."

Thorin sighed before leaning down and gently pressing their foreheads together as he ran a hand through Bilbo's hair. "One thing I know for sure," he murmurs against Bilbo's forehead as he pressed a kiss to his temple, "life with you will never get boring." He let out a soft laugh, lifting his head to kiss Thorin's chin and hopping up from the bench to run to the other side of the small pond inside the alcove, giving his mate a playful grin. "What are you up to now?" Getting up, he followed Bilbo and the small being chuckled before using his magic to float over the pond so he was back at the bench where they'd started off.

"Nothing," he chuckles and Thorin raised an eyebrow before reaching into the inner pocket of his jacket to pull out his pipe, making his way back over to the bench, as well. "You're not going to tell them it was me, are you?"

The Dwarf shook his head as he retook his seat beside Bilbo and lit his pipe, moving his arm out of the way when Bilbo slid closer to him to make himself comfortable against his side. Wrapping his arm around his mate's smaller shoulders, he took a puff from his pipe and set his head atop Bilbo's own as the Hobbit stared into the pond in front of them. "Why do you think Gandalf wants us to bring the map to the meeting we're having with Lord Elrond after dinner?" he asks and Bilbo gave a shrug as he pressed closer to his side, nuzzling his face against Thorin's shoulder.

They spent the rest of the day until dinner in the garden talking with each other and made sure to head back into Lord Elrond's home just before so they could clean up, heading towards the dining area with the others. Upon entering, they all paused as they caught sight of Elladan and Elrohir trying to fight with their sister while being connected by the hair, which wasn't conducive to fighting as they kept pulling each others' hair. "You know we can't stand being attached to each other," Elladan snarls and Arwen chuckles ducking between her brothers, causing them to smack into each other when they tried to catch her.

"Why would you?" Elrohir asks in a petulant tone as he rubs his forehead where he and his brother had hit each other.

"The two of you are already attached to each other, I was just making it a little more permanent for the next couple of days until you undo that," she snickers jumping back out of their reach when their father walked into the dining room and the twins immediately stopped in what they were doing.

They actually moved closer to each other to hide the fact that their hair was braided together and Bilbo couldn't help the small laugh that escaped his lips and the twins turned to look at him. "Nice job, Arwen," he says and the female elf gave a proud smile as she moved to take her seat at the table, her brothers doing the same.

"Please don't encourage her, Bilbo," Elrond breathes giving him a knowing look as he took the seat between his children so that they weren't trying to hurt each other at the table.

Taking a seat, Bilbo gave the Elf Lord an innocent smile as Thorin took the seat next to him, Fili and Kili taking the seats on either side of them. "Ah, but it's cute when she makes it so they can't get away from each other," he chuckles and the twins glare at him, moving to kick him beneath the table but completely missing when Fili, who was sitting on his other side, flinched.

Elrond sighed before cuffing both of them on the back of the head and they grumbled under their breaths, low enough that even Bilbo couldn't hear them. "We're sorry, Prince Fili," they growl together while shooting their sister a look when she snickered at them, barely even trying to cover it with a cough.

"It's fine," Fili mutters as he glanced at Bilbo through the corner of his eye, knowing that the Hobbit had something to do with the Elven twins' hair predicament when he stifled his laughter by taking a sip from his cup. "So, what did you and Uncle Thorin do today?"

"We talked," Bilbo answered giving Fili a glare when he wiggled his eyebrows.

Thorin noticed this and reached behind Bilbo to smack the back of Fili's head. "We talked, that's all," he growls and Fili made a face as he rubbed where Thorin had hit him.

"Just asking, you two were gone most of the day," Fili mutters as he took a drink and glared at his brother when he laughed at him.

"Bilbo chuckled quietly when the Elven twins began trying to undo their hair and entwined his fingers with Thorin's under the table as everyone began eating once Gandalf had joined them at the table. "I trust everyone has had a great stay?" Elrond asks when there was a lull in the conversations going on around the tables and his children had stopped bickering at each other.

"Yes," Thorin honestly answers before Gandalf could do so and the old Wizard glanced over at him to see if he was just saying that.

"Glad to hear of it," Elrond murmurs with a slight nod in the Wizard's direction and Bilbo glanced down at the table before rolling his eyes.

The Hobbit tuned out their conversation for a moment as he played with Thorin's hand, done with his dinner and leant against the Dwarf's shoulder. Giving the twins a glance every now and then to see their progress undoing his prank, having to stifle his laughter when he noticed they were just making it worse. Dinner was soon over and Bilbo followed Thorin, Balin, Gandalf and Elrond out onto a beautiful terrace with a pedestal at the center of the railing and a wonderful view.

He'd been paying attention to what they were talking about when his enhanced senses picked up on something strange and he glanced away from where the others were. Looking around for whatever had caused what he was sensing, Bilbo quickly became annoyed when he was unable to locate it and slipped closer to Thorin. The feeling eased a bit but it had put him on edge enough that even Thorin's closeness wasn't as calming as it should've been. "Are you feeling well, Bilbo?" Elrond asks bringing the hobbit out of his thoughts and he looked over the group that was no longer speaking. Thorin looked worried, as did Balin, Gandalf looked troubled and Elrond had his customary serene mask in place, except for the small spark of curiosity in his eyes as he watched Bilbo.

"I'm fine," Bilbo answers placing his hand on Thorin's arm. "We should probably head back now."

Thorin nodded, leading Bilbo and Balin back to the room, where the others were preparing to leave. "What's wrong, Bilbo?" Thorin asks keeping him back when Balin went into the room to help the others.

"Nothing, it's just when we were up there, I felt something, it was kind of like the feeling I get whenever Gandalf is around," he murmurs and Thorin nodded, they'd had this talk, Bilbo got a shivery feeling whenever Gandalf was around. "The only difference was that this was the same feeling multiplied by ten."

"Could be the other ring-bearers, the White Council, I think is what they call themselves," Thorin breathes cupping Bilbo's cheek before pulling him against his chest, pressing their foreheads together. "Elrond and Gandalf are both members and they're probably having a meeting here tonight."

Bilbo nodded, putting one of his hands against Thorin's beard before pulling away when he heard wolf-whistles from inside the room, cheeks turning bright red. "Your nephews started it," he breathes as an annoyed look appeared on Thorin's face.

"Of course they did," Thorin mutters dropping a kiss against his hobbit's forehead before heading into the room, muttering curses at his nephews under his breath and Bilbo chuckled, following him. "We need to leave now, the White Council is here and they may try to stop us." Everything was a blur after that and Bilbo didn't stop to think about anything until he felt the eerie, spine-chilling feeling he'd had since before they'd left Rivendell slip away.


End file.
